RWBY Remastered
by Evowizard25
Summary: The world of Remnant, like all worlds, have many brother and sister realities. In every world adjacent, things change, differentiate, and play out differently. This is one such world. A world in which pitches Ruby against new and challenging forces.
1. Chapter 1

In the dark of the night, a lot of things stirred in Remnant's depths. Unsavory things that you'd never want to come across in your lifetime. Unfortunately for the people of Remnant, they were everywhere. The Grimm, creatures of darkness and hatred. No one knows where they came from. Legends all over Remnant tell of their creation, all differing. No one can agree on what makes them so violent and hateful towards mankind. What makes them revel in the death of humans and faunus alike. No one knows, but honestly, they aren't given a lot of time to think. The Grimm were on the attack. Always looking for some weakness to exploit. They never stopped. They lived to feast on humanity.

In the forests.

In the sea.

In the air.

Nowhere was safe from the monsters. So that's why humanity stayed in their cities. That's where they could be safe. Some brave souls wished to make it on their own, but most perished. The survivors became nomads with many being shaped into monsters just as fierce as the Grimm. The cities remained through all of that, but again, nowhere is safe. Evil and hatred even grew here.

* * *

In the dark of the night, two soldiers idly stood guard. The small store that laid behind them had a neon sign that proudly shone 'From Dust Till Dawn'. The armored soldiers watched the streets carefully as one double checked his assault rifle. It wouldn't hurt to make sure, just in case. There was a reason to be a bit antsy. As the name of the store suggested, it housed one, if not the most, valuable substances on Remnant; Dust.

This was because the store was a popular go to for young Huntresses for the nearby Beacon Academy. They would often drop by to purchase extra Dust for hunts or other activities. As well, some leading officials and armed civilians could also purchase Dust if they had acquired permits to do so. This kept the substance out of unsavory hands. The soldiers were there to make sure it stayed that way. Unfortunately for them, said unsavory folk had other plans. From the dark alleyways a number of individuals strutted about as if they owned the city. To many, they did. The few people out and about at this hour cowered and took off as quickly as they could. The black, well dressed goons wore red swords and guns on their back. It was however their leader that was the more fearsome of the bunch.

Standing at about a couple of meters, possibly a little taller, the muscular, thuggish looking fellow had a glare that could scare hardened souls back into their homes. He was all muscle and wore a ragged and cut version of the suit the henchmen wore. His large arms were scarred, as if some animal had tried to claw them off but failed. Wrapped around his hands were spikey and armored 'Cestus'. A type of gauntlet that suited the muscular man just fine.

Of course, if you looked further down you could see that this 'man' wasn't exactly fully human. His head sported a pair of wolfish ears. His legs were akin to that of a wolf's, bent and inhuman. A large wolfish tail sprouted from his back.

The two soldiers spotted the group walking up from across the dimly lit street, "Halt. Identify yourself."

The large man only smirked before he kept coming closer.

The soldiers raised their rifles, "I said halt." When they kept coming, one of them pointed their rifle in the air and fired a round. He quickly trained it back on the group. "This is your last warning. The next one goes through your leg, civilian. Halt and identify yourself."

The hulking figure raised a hand and the other thugs stopped. He kept walking forward by himself.

The two soldiers were unnerved by the man, especially since he kept that smirk on his face as he walked forward, "I said, halt! Listen to me if you want-"

The soldiers, in their brief bit of consciousness, were surprised at the sudden speed of the hulking figure. He had quickened his pace, taking only two long strides before slamming his large fist into one soldier. Said soldier was sent into a wall. A red burst of energy, almost like shards of broken glass, shot out from his form signalling his aura shield's destruction. He crumpled to the ground.

"Gods!" The other shouted and got off a shot. Unfortunately for him, it did nothing to the figure. His aura absorbed the blast before he sideswiped the soldier. The soldier was sent tumbling along the ground before hitting a lamppost and shattering his aura shield. He didn't get back up.

The hulking man snorted and turned to the other thugs, "Get inside." His deep voice left no room for argument. The goons nodded and walked inside. The hulking figure looked at the soldiers. He could still hear them breathing. He idly pondered killing them, but decided it wasn't worth his time.

Inside, the goons were pointing their weapons at an old clerk. "Pl-please don't hurt me." He quickly opened up his cash register. "Here, take all my lien."

The hulking man sneered, "We aren't here for that." He nodded towards the Dust dispensers. "Get the Dust."

The old man's eyes widened, "You can't! That's not-"

The hulking man grabbed him by the throat and lifted him to look him in the eyes, "You have no say in the matter." He casually dropped the old man, who gasped for air.

One of the goons set a briefcase that held dust containers. The goons quickly took their own and went to one side of the building which house the Dust tubes and started to pour it into their containers. One of them chose to go to the other side of the building since there wasn't any space for him. Right before he started to fill his container, he noticed a small, red hooded figure.

He quirked an eyebrow from behind his red sunglasses. He glanced over at the Dust and decided it wasn't important enough to worry about… He did a double take when he noticed a large device of some sort beside the figure. It looked intricate and expensive. He grinned as he placed his container down. He'd get some bonus points with the boss for bringing in new gear. He took out his sword and called out to her, "Hey, you."

He frowned when she didn't respond, "Hey you, I'm talking to you."

The hooded figure was silent.

He noticed the head was bobbing slightly. They probably weren't paying attention. He sighed and walked over. He went to grab the red, mechanical block. Right before he touched it, a small hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.

"What are you doing?" A squeaky feminine voice spoke. The figure turned their head to reveal… an underage girl.

"Taking this doohickey of yours, kid." The man smirked as her eyes widened. He raised his right arm that had his sword clenched tightly in his fist. "So why don't you let go and I won't have to hurt you."

The little girl narrowed her eyes.

Suddenly, everyone turned to see one goon being thrown through a window. A red blur followed the strike. They looked out to see a little girl wielding a blocky contraption. Said contraption quickly shot out into an intimidating scythe.

The hulking man glared at the others and gestured to the girl, "Kill her. I'll get the dust."

"B-but that scythe," One of them gulped. "She could be a huntress."

"If she's a huntress," the hulking man snorted. "I'm a robot. Now shut up and do your jobs."

The henchmen steeled themselves and rushed her. Two of the five raised their rifles and tried to shoot her. To their surprise, she dodged. She sped faster then any young girl had the right to. They kept firing while the other three rushed to slice her to pieces. She didn't try and run away from them. Instead she rushed them. Given the range on her scythe, she was able to strike all three goons at once before they could even reach her.

With a twirl, the girl dodged another couple of rifle shots before spinning to face the two rifle goons. She pulled a lever back on her scythe, causing both of them to stop and gulp as they realized her weapon was a gun too. She smiled and fired, knocking one back. Another quick shot knocked the other one back as well.

"That wasn't too hard if I have to say so," the little girl beamed, before yelping as she dodged a blade that almost slashed her neck. She rolled and recalled her scythe back to a blocky gun and fired. The man was sent flying a few feet from the blast.

The hulking figure stepped out of the shop. He eyed with slight bemusement as a young teenage girl was zipping about, slicing and shooting his men. Not one of them seemed like they could even land a hit on her. He growled and clenched his fists, "If you want something done…"

The little girl was having the time of her life. She kept darting about, swinging her scythe to slam the six goons about. She jumped into the air, twirling about before slamming the brunt of her scythe into one goon before firing into another to sent her rocketing forward. She smashed her feet into one guy's face before rolling and blazing away two more. Thankfully, the goons had their aura activated so she could go all out. Since many of their aura fields were glowing red and sparking she figured a few more hits would knock them out.

Unfortunately, her good luck had to come to an end. She just barely saw the fist coming. That saved her from the brunt of the attack. She moved her scythe about herself to see a rather muscular and tall figure towering over her. "...Whoa."

"You're fast for a Hunter wannabe," the man smirked. "But I think it's time you head on home."

"Wannabe?" The girl glared at him with fiery intensity which would be intimidating if she wasn't so small. This was especially compared to himself. "I'll have you know I'm not a wannabe. I am a Huntress In Waiting. There is a difference."

The man laughed, "Well Huntress In Waiting, you've gone and put yourself at a disadvantage."

She narrowed her eyes, "How?"

He activated his Cestus. The spikes on his gauntlet sparked into life, showing red dust contained within. "You crossed my path."

The girl didn't respond like he thought she would. Instead she gasped and was at his side in an instant. He blinked in confusion as she took one of his Cestus, and his hand with it, into her own little hands. "Is this a Cestus? Oh it's in good condition. I mean, really good. I don't see a lot of them that have spikes all over them. I think its utilization of Dust could be worked a bit better but it's overall a really good weapon."

The man just stared at her, "...What are you doing?"

The girl blinked a few times before blushing in embarrassment. She let go of his hand and rubbed the back of her head, "Sorry, bit of a weapon enthusiast."

The man shook his head to clear his mind, "Get out of here, kid. This isn't the type of place for you."

"Oh but it is," the girl smiled and readied her scythe. "You're a criminal and I'm here to stop you."

"If you want to play Hunters and Robbers," the man glared at her. "Then you better be prepared for what's coming." He punched forward, nearly smashing the girl's face.

However she backflipped out of the way, "Gotta be quicker-"

The man smirked and around his fist, a dust explosion rocketed the girl like a ragdoll. She righted herself and landed on her feet before long. She yelped as the large man ran towards her. She barely dodged his fist again.

She started to race around him. Now that she had some distance, she could make sure that strike didn't happen again. She fired and fired at the man. He raised his arms to block them from striking his head. His aura didn't seem to fluctuate, signalling he still had a lot of aura. She had her work cut out for her.

The man growled and glared at the girl as she raced around him. His aura could take those rounds well enough, but she was weedling down on it. He tried to punch her twice but she kept out of his range. That's when he saw her move a little closer. He slammed both his fists into the ground. The explosion caused the ground to shake and everything within a bit of a distance to be blown back. The girl yelped as she found herself thrown off her feet again. This time she landed on her side a bit dazed.

"Got you," the man smiled as he ran. Jumping into the air, he cocked his fist back and prepared to smash it down in an explosive finish. He never got the chance. A pulse of energy shot hit him square in the back and sent him sailing over the girl. "What…" He got up only to be forced slightly back by another shot. He dodged a third.

"Jacob Germania," a strict but jovial man's voice piped up. "Funny meeting you here."

"Blast it," the man known as Jacob Germania snarled as he turned to face his opponent.

It was a portly older gentleman. He had a large fluffy white mustache that took up most of his face. In his hand sat an oldish gun that was trained squarely on him, "I always wanted to bag the Big Bad Wolf. Don't give me an excuse to put your head on my wall."

"Charming as ever, Hunter." Jacob glanced over at the suitcase with all the Dust and then back at him. He raised up his fist and slammed it into the ground, creating a shockwave that headed straight towards him. The old man quickly rolled to the side, displaying a bit of speed that surprised Ruby given his age. He then fired another two quick shots that impacted Jacob's aura.

The portly man smirked as Jacob glared at him, "Come quietly, Wolf."

Jacob narrowed his eyes as he dug into his shirt pocket, "No." He quickly withdrew a vial of Dust and threw it between them. The explosion caused a debris cloud that forced both the girl and the man to shield their eyes.

When they opened them, the goons and Jacob were gone. The man sighed before going over to pick up the briefcase, "Thankfully he didn't have enough time to steal with." He opened it up and hummed, "Dust. Probably thought he could make a quick buck off of all this." He muttered to herself.

"WOW!" the girl yelled and jumped up and down beside him. "That was so cool. You're a Huntress, right? Can I have your autograph?"

The old man laughed and took out a pen, "Anything for a jovial fan."

The girl squealed, "I can't believe this is happening!"

* * *

"I can't believe this is happening," The young teen didn't expect to find herself in an interrogation room. It puzzled her slightly since she was just trying to help. She idly tapped the table. Thankfully, someone opened the door. In stepped the man that she had come to know as Pete Port.

He gave her a grandfatherly smile before taking a seat across from her, "Hello, Ruby. I hope the police aren't giving you too much trouble."

Ruby shook her head, "Nope, Mr. Port. Though, you know, I thought they would like me for trying to help."

Port nodded, "Yes, well. Not everyone appreciates a good rousing bit of heroism. This isn't like the good old days," he brandished his gun like it was a sword and struck a dramatic pose, "Where the valiant efforts of us Huntsman were sung in stories while we blazed through our enemies like a mighty hand of vengeance." He sighed, "But now we have to be a bit more careful. That's something you should have known if you wanted to be a Huntswoman."

"I tried to stop the bad guys," the teen answered without hesitation.

Port smirked, "And that you did." He booped her nose, causing her to giggle. "The owner of that store was more than pleased to have his Dust back and so are we. However, what you did was against 'the rules'." He put his fingers up in air quotes, "Blasted hogwash if I have to say so. If it were up to me, you'd get a medal."

"A medal," Ruby's eyes sparkled.

Port nodded, as the door opened up behind him. "Yes. You fought like a true huntsman."

"Port, what have I told you about supporting reckless heroism?" A wise and mature voice spoke behind them.

In walked a bespectacled, white haired man. He exuded an aura of age and wisdom that put Ruby at ease. It also helped that he had a tray of cookies and milk with an additional mug on the side, "I thought you might be hungry, so I stopped to get you this. I hope you aren't allergic to chocolate chip cookies."

Ruby squealed and held out her arms, "Gimme, gimme, gimme."

The older man chuckled and put down the cookies and milk in front of her. She eagerly started chomping down on them, "So," he started. "I see you want to become a Huntress."

"How did you know?" Ruby said with her mouth full of cookies. The man pointed to the scroll and she gulped, "Ah yeah… say, how did you get all that?"

"The area housed a store that sold Dust," the man explained. "We have cameras all over that place to watch over it. Anyways, your skills in this fight are excellent. Better than most city dwelling children of your age."

Ruby smiled, puffing out her chest. She put a cookie over her heart, "I am to please." Then she stuffed it into her mouth. "My dad and big sis taught me a lot growing up, so it comes easily to me."

The man nodded, "Indeed, but your technique and strategy could use some work." The man then stared at her for a moment, focusing on her eyes. "You know, I think you might just have the potential to be a Huntress."

Ruby's eyes widened, "You think so?"

The man nodded, "I am. Now I have to apologize. I haven't introduced myself. I am Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy. How would you like to attend Beacon?"

Ruby eagerly nodded, looking as if she was going to bounce around the room in excitement. "Really? You're not joking."

Ozpin shook his head, "No, I am not. In fact, how would you like to go now? This semester, I mean."

"What?!" Ruby shouted.

Port laughed, his belly shaking like a bowl full of jelly. "Oh-ho, now who's being reckless?" Ozpin just rolled his eyes.

Ruby squealed and jumped over the table to hug Ozpin, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

Ozpin chuckled and softly hugged her back, "You are quite welcome, my dear. Now would you wait outside for a moment? I have to talk to Prof. Port." Ruby nodded and rushed out the door.

"Headmaster Ozpin," Port eyed him up. "You do know that, while she does have merit, some will question this decision. She is only fifteen after all."

"She's only shy a measly two years of Beacon's admission age," Ozpin raised two fingers. "Besides, people who live outside the cities train their children to hunt long before even that. I remember a certain huntsman who goes on and on how he took down an Ursa when he was only two."

"With a spork," Port grinned. "Humanities greatest utensil. Still, about this Ruby. I must say, I would love to take her under my wing."

"I want her to be a great Huntsman, not a reckless one."

Port pursed his lips, "I am not reckless." Ozpin quirked an eyebrow to which Port rubbed the back of his head. "Some of the time. So what made you come to this decision?"

"She has silver eyes."

Port blinked in confusion, "What… what does that have to do with anything?"

"It has to with with everything," he picked up his mug and took a sip. "I think it would be best for everyone if we trained her now. It couldn't hurt to have a little ensurance down the line and she'll no doubt grow to be a fine Huntress while under your care."

Port sighed, "I trust you, Ozpin. I just hope you know what you're doing."

"So do I, but nothing is certain these days." Ozpin took another sip from his mug.

* * *

Ruby's ear was eagerly pressed up against the door, trying to listen in on the conversation. She frowned when she couldn't make out anything, slightly frustrated. That is until she felt something tap her shoulder. She yelped and jumped around. She ended up looking up at a tall, burly officer. "Ummm…" She nervously gulped.

"If you're trying to listen in," the officer started. "It's not going to work."

Ruby nervously chuckled and fiddled with her hands, "Worth a shot."

The officer sighed, "So I take it you're the little hero of the hour, Ruby Rose." When she nodded, he gestured for her to follow. "I need to talk to you."

Ruby looked to the door then to the officer. She sighed and followed. It didn't take long for them to get to his office, which tipped Ruby off that he was most likely the guy in charge of the place. "Am… Am I going to jail?"

The man turned his head to look at her, before chuckling. He ruffled her hair, "Nah, you're not going to jail." He frowned and took a seat behind his desk. "But I'm not exactly pleased right now and you're a part of the reason."

Ruby's eyes widened and she gasped, "B-But I was just trying to stop the bad guys. What did I do wrong?"

"Well firstly," the officer sighed. "What you did was commendable. Admirable, even. I can't deny that I'm grateful that you were there, but…" He clenched his fist. "The people of Vale don't put much trust in the police force. They seem to think we're a joke and the new media aren't helping. This little stunt of yours just added on to it."

Ruby gasped again, "No. I didn't mean to do that. Honest!"

The officer nodded, "I know, but what can you do?" He rubbed his chin, "Although, I was thinking of a way to fix that."

"Anything!" Ruby pleaded, putting her hands together on his desk.

"Once you assemble your team at Beacon," the officer started. "You will be making periodic trips to this police station for additional training and missions."

"What?!" Ruby shouted.

The officer tweaked a finger inside his right ear, "Quite a voice you got there." He then nodded, "Yes, I want you to report to me at least once a week."

"But why?"

"To show that the police force is working closely with the Hunters and Huntresses and to show that our methods are still effective," the officer smirked. "I'm sure you'll be learning about a number of things you won't learn at Beacon." He raised a hand, "Before you say anything, I've already talked with Headmaster Ozpin. He's agreed to it as long as you do. So… what do you say?"

Ruby was silent for a moment, "Well, one of my dad's friends is a cop and he's a really nice guy. I don't want to make him and you guys look bad so… yes, yes I'll do it."

The officer held out his hand, "Welcome to the force, Officer Rose."

Ruby took her small hand in his larger one, "Happy to help… ummm…"

"Chief Greg Lestrade, happy to meet you."

* * *

Jacob Germania kneeled before a white suited figure. The figure held a cane in one hand and a bowler hat on his head. He was looking over a few charts that were strewn over a table.

"So," the man turned around, moving his orange hair out of his eyes. "Let me get this straight. You were stopped in your tracks by an underage girl with a giant scythe. Is that what I'm hearing? An adult body builder type beaten by a scrawny toothpick. Is that what I'm hearing, Jacob?"

Jacob bit his tongue not to snap at his employer, "Yes."

The man tapped his cane on the floor, "First of all, what am I paying you for?" He eyed the other henchmen with Jacob as well. "Correction, what am I paying all of you for since you all bungled this job. This nice, simple job." He paced before them, "I thought you could handle this one simple job, but apparently little girls are too much of a problem. What, should I have sent you with some lollipops and unicorns to placate her? Maybe then you could get something done!"

"She was far more skilled then you give her credit for," Jacob responded. "This silver eyed pest got lucky, though. If it wasn't for that Huntsman, I could have killed her."

"If you were at all competent, it wouldn't have come to that." The employer snarled. Their employer was none other than Roman Torchwick, one of the biggest crime lords on Remnant. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was going to make sure it stayed that way. He went over and sat on a chair as he thought about the problem.

"Next time, she won't be a problem." Jacob snarled and clenched his fists. "I'll make sure of that."

"You better," Roman pulled out a cigar and lit it. "Terrible for your health but calms the nerves." He muttered more to himself then anyone. He took a long puff before letting it out, "Make sure that there aren't anymore problems in the future. We can't afford them. Now get out of my sight."

Jacob and the others quickly made their way out of the room. Roman moved back and forth on his chair as he contemplated a number of things. First and foremost, was one little aspect.

"Silver eyes, eh?" Roman chuckled. "Supposed to bring good luck. If she stays out of my way, she'll be the luckiest girl alive." He went back to the charts, eyeing up the territories. He snorted when he noticed colors and shades for other gangs, especially those nearby. "What I wouldn't do for a little good luck myself."

That's when his scroll let out a 'beep'. He turned to it to see a message. A message from a particularly 'powerful' lot, "I really hate that man."

Just then, he felt someone tug on the sleeve of his shirt. He looked over to see a petite but well developed young woman with pink and brown hair that had some white stripes in it. Her eyes were different colors, mainly when she felt like it. She smiled up at him and tilted her head.

Roman sighed, "Neo, now's not the time. I have to fix a damn mutt's mistake here."

Said woman was none other than Neopolitan, the cutest little changeling gal Roman had ever met. Well, the only one but that didn't matter much. She was pouting at his answer.

"Neo," Roman narrowed his eyes. "I'm busy. The very fate of our little empire is at stake."

She widened her puppy dog eyes.

"Neo, don't do that."

She jutted out her lower lip.

"Neo, stop."

Her lower lip trembled.

Roman face-palmed and sighed, "Fine, we'll go get you your ice cream." He was immediately glomped. He ruffled her hair, "But after that, we get back to scheming, alright?" She eagerly nodded. Roman decided to simply ignore the text for now.

* * *

 **Hello everyone and welcome to RWBY Remastered. I wanted to first explain a few things. As you might have guessed, this is a re-imagining of the show from the bottom up. This is not to bash anything of the show, this is just my own take on it since there are things with the show that I feel aren't that well handled, thought out, or miss out on some interesting bits. That's just me.**

 **Because of that, I wanted to put a bit of information out.**

 **Firstly, the full blood faunus in this world will have more animal traits, such as legs, tails, ears, and other features. It's a change I felt would make more sense when it comes to differentiation and when it comes to discrimination. (As well as a reason why no one suspects that Blake is a faunus since she won't be full blooded.)**

 **Secondly, Port was changed out for Glynda both because I could really see him and Ruby bond over weapons and he fulfills the role of the Hunter in the olden story of Red Riding Hood. He's gonna be the 'Hagrid' of this world in a way, 'cept not nearly as big. Which leads to Jacob Germania, the Big Bad Wolf... I'm going to be honest, Kinda disappointing Ruby has no enemy that even slightly comes close to this in canon since he's the central antagonist of her story. (Wolf grimm don't count. Those are the basic creatures of Grimm.)**

 **Lastly, Cinder isn't going to be in the story for some time. At first, this will focus on Roman (my favorite RWBY antagonist) as he'll fulfill the role of main baddie for the team. Which is the reason I brought up the cops, so to have the team more often bump into him and his goons.**

 **As we move on, there will be more differences and I hope you enjoy it and please leave a comment. They are very much appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

Ruby couldn't be anymore excited. Everything was falling into place. She was going to one of the most prestigious schools for Hunters in the world! Well there were only four in the world but she honestly thought Vale's was better than everyone else's. Call it selfish nationalism or just her own father's opinions becoming her own. Either way, she was excited. So much so that she was basically a blur as she sped about her room and packing everything she could into her suitcases.

A light knock came from the door, "You can come in." Ruby called out.

In walked in an older fellow of dullish blond hair. He was wearing cargo pants, a tan shirt with a vest over it, and an odd assortment of fingerless glove and shoulder pad on his right arm and a red bandana on his left, "Well if it isn't my favorite speedster. Excited for her new school, I take it?"

Ruby eagerly nodded, "Yep." She giggled, "I still can't believe this is happening. Me? Attending Beacon?" She twirled, squealing as she did so before landing on her back on her bed. "It's a dream come true! Aren't you excited too, dad?"

"If I had it my way," the man known as Taiyang Xiao Long huffed. "You'd be grounded till your sixty."

Ruby pouted and sat up to stare at him, "Come on, dad. I was doing the right thing."

"You went up against armed criminals," Taiyang rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Young grimm are one thing, but this?"

"Well I beat them," Ruby held up a finger. Taiyang raised an eyebrow before holding up a picture of the criminal wolf faunus beating her. "GAH! Why do you have that picture?"

"To remind you not to get so cocky," Taiyang pointed out. "And your face in this picture is hilarious." He dodged a pillow aimed for his head, "What? Can't a father laugh at his daughter's expense once in awhile?" He smirked.

"Don't make me blow up that picture!" Another pillow aimed for his head and missed.

"With that aim? Doubt it." Taiyang chuckled at her glare. His face quickly took on a more serious look to it. "Seriously, Ruby. I know I've trained you and your sister over the years to fight, but you can't just go rush off and fight whatever battle you want. Pick and choose."

"I can so pick and choose!"

"Guns or blades? Which are better?"

"But… but… but…" Ruby seemed to be conflicted. "But both are awesome!"

"Ah-ha," Taiyang extended a finger. "I told you."

"THIS IS DIFFERENT!"

"NO SHOUTING IN THE HOUSE!"

"BUT WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WOODS AND YOUR SHOUTING TOO!"

"I CAN BE A HYPOCRITE! I"M A FATHER!"

"WELL I"LL BE A FATHER TOO ONE DAY!"

Taiyang stared at her for a moment, "Ruby, is there something you want to tell me?"

Ruby's face broke out into a serious blush, "You… you… I… I was just shouting and…" She turned to glare at him when he started laughing. "You're the worst dad ever!"

Taiyang pulled her into a hug, "Oh you know you love me."

Ruby pouted and hugged him back, "Fine, I do."

Taiyang gave her a pat on the back and a kiss on her head, "Just be safe out there. Beacon isn't a cakewalk, you know. You could get hurt and… I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

Ruby smiled and nuzzled into his chest, "You won't lose me. I sorta stick out in a crowd with my cape."

Taiyang chuckled, "Too true." He pulled back, "Also, keep an eye on your sister. I don't want her getting into any trouble."

"She's hopeless without me," the both of them chuckled. "I will dad."

"Just stick by each other and do what she says," Taiyang said. "She might rely too much on her semblance, but she knows a thing or two more about fighting then you do. She'll help you out in Beacon and she'll keep you alive."

Ruby nodded, "I will, dad."

"Then let's get going," Taiyang made to leave before stopping to check something. "Are those bra pads?"

Ruby's eyes widened and she blushed up a storm, "Y-Yang gave them to me. I don't need them! They're just sitting there!"

"Look, small tits are not a bad thing-"

"GET OUT!"

* * *

 **At the airport**

Ruby practically leaped out of the car once they arrived. She turned and waved to her dad, "By dad."

Taiyang waved back, "Bye Ruby. Yang should be here somewhere. If she's not, give me a call. I'll set her straight." He grumbled in annoyance.

Ruby nodded in understanding, "I will. Take care." She closed the door and waved him off as he drove away. She took a deep breath and tried not to squee as she looked at the airport. She could make out airships making their trips to and from the port. She was going to take this calmly and-

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Everyone at the airport did their best to cover their ears as an earsplitting squee split the air. They also tried to keep on their feet as a red blur rushed past them with great speed, blowing a number of items around. Most people grumbled about 'Hunters' and their powers and recklessness. Others pondered the possibility of a demon loose. Others just didn't care and moved on with their lives because it wasn't their problem.

Ruby stopped and ran into a bathroom. She pulled her large rucksack off her back and stuck her hand in it. She instantly pulled out a little dog, "I'm so sorry Zwei. I kinda forgot you were in their. Are you okay?" The dog licked her face and barked. Ruby giggled, "You thought it was fun, huh?"

The dog barked again.

"Just remember to stay quiet," Ruby put a finger to her lips. "Pets aren't allowed at Beacon. Well except mascots but I don't think you want to be a mascot. That's a lot of work and you are a lazy dog." The dog tilted his head, which made Ruby squeal and hug him. "And that's one of the reasons I love you. Now be a good boy and stay quiet." She gave him a kiss on the nose and put him back in the bag and calmly-

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-oof."

Right before the airship, Ruby smacked into a large object.

"Well, well, well," a familiar voice chuckled. "If it isn't Beacon's up and coming best Huntress herself."

Ruby shook her head to clear it and looked up. A bright smile popped onto her face, "Mr. Port." She jumped up and hugged him. "I'm so glad to see you."

Port chuckled again and hugged her back, "So good to see you too." He pulled back, "I see you're prepared for the stay at Beacon. Good girl. It never hurts to be prepared."

"That's what my dad always says," Ruby nodded.

Port booped her nose with a finger and smiled, "But let's see if that's all he taught you." He ruffled her hair, causing her to pout. "Beacon will test your mettle, Ruby. I know you're up to the task, but remember. When in doubt-"

"Shoot your way out?"

Port stared at her for a moment before bursting into laughter, "Oh I can see this turning out beautifully." He made his way to the airship. Ruby tagging along.

Inside, it wasn't long before Ruby was pulled into the warm and cushy embrace of her big sister's chest. "Ahhh, yeah! I knew you had it in you, sis. Beacon at fifteen. Oh I'm so proud."

Pulling back, Ruby looked at her older sister. Her long golden locks and curvy body drew many a gaze in her direction. Which Ruby was no jealous of at all. Not one bit, especially not about her breasts. "Yang, don't embarrass me."

Yang chuckled and ruffled her hair, "Awww, don't be all pouty, Ruby. We're gonna have fun at Beacon and kick some Grimm butt. Sorry I couldn't be there this morning. Had to go with a friend to say goodbye."

Ruby nodded in understanding. While Beacon was a great school, it still taught them to be Hunters. Great Hunters. This meant that not all of them would go home alive. Which didn't worry her so much now that she had Mr. Port, Yang, and Zwei looking out for her.

"Gotta say though," Yang lightly punched Ruby's shoulder. Given her strength, it still hurt and pushed her back a bit but Ruby smiled anyways. Her aura would protect her. "That was really brave of you for taking on those bad guys. I always knew you had it in you."

"I just did the right thing," Ruby stated.

Before either of them could continue to talk, the airship started to take off. The duo walked into the airship to get settled, when they spied a large screen with the news playing.

A peppy looking newswoman smiled brightly at everyone. She was laughing, "Oh what a story, Mark. Anyways, in other news a recent bank robbery led by Jacob Germania," the faunus's face was shown on screen. "Was thwarted by the brave and valiant efforts of Ruby Rose, a loyal Vale citizen. While he did escape capture, Ruby's efforts kept him from stealing a large quantity of Dust which I know we can all sleep soundly knowing that it's out of his hands. Let's give her a round of applause people." She moved her hands up and started clapping. Several of the people in the car with them started to clap as well.

Ruby pulled her hood over her head to hide herself. She wanted to be a hero, but it was still a bit embarrassing getting all that attention. Yang didn't seem to be on the same page. Instead, she used her immense strength to grab her, pack and all, and hoist her onto her shoulder. Pointing to her, she said: "Yeah, that's my sister!"

The applause grew louder with a few whistles. Ruby put her hands over her face, "YANG! Let me down."

"Oh fine, party pooper." Yang chuckled and let her down onto the ground.

The newswoman kept going, "Ruby Rose has been thus accepted into Beacon at the ripe age of 15. I just know that she'll do us all proud. Maybe with Huntresses like her, we can show naysayers like the infernal White Fang that we aren't to be trifled with. Speaking of, White Fang activity has increased in the lands of Mistral. We wish the best for our brothers and sisters of the continent. Stay strong. The White Fang are simply misguided Faunus and will one day see the folly of their actions. Anyways, that's it for today everyone and remember. A smile a day keeps the Grimm away." She laughed and the TV cut out.

"Hmph," Yang snorted. "If the White Fang showed up here, I'd show 'em a thing or two about messing with people."

"I wouldn't be so eager if I were you," a feminine voice muttered behind them. They turned to see a white and black dressed girl about Yang's age. She wore a headscarf over her head and large glasses with her hands covered with black gloves.

"And you are?" Yang quirked an eyebrow.

"Blake," the girl answered. "Just be careful about what you think about the White Fang. You might be wrong."

Yang smiled and shrugged, "Maybe I will be. Life wouldn't be fun if I was always right."

The girl smirked, "Indeed. See you around." She waved them off and walked off.

* * *

The unknown girl walked into the restroom and sat inside a stall. She opened up her scroll and hit the contact. Holding it up to her ears, which were a bit higher on her head then a normal human, she spoke, "I'm in."

"Good," a voice hissed on the other side of the channel. "Everything is falling into place. Soon the Great and Powerful Commander Sev shall be on top!" Said Commander couldn't help but cackle as only a supervillain would.

"Yes, Commander." The girl answered.

"Now to add to that, have fun." Commander Sev spoke. "No really, have fun, Blake. This mission is going to take a while so relax."

"I am here to do my mission, nothing more." Blake snorted in agitation.

"Suit yourself," Commander Sev sighed. "Just do us proud here in the Purple Fang."

"Ehhh…"

"Red Fang?"

"Do we really need to go with a Fang for the name now?"

"Blake, it is tradition… and no one will accept my other names." She knew he was pouting on the other line. She also knew that his names tended to be… out there. Alongside everything else he ever tried.

Blake sighed, "How about Poison Fang?"

"You are a genius as always," Commander Sev chuckled. "Now do us credit and kick some Hunter butt!"

"I'm learning to fight Grimm."

"Kick their butt too."

* * *

 **Elsewhere, inside a Atlas Airship**

Weiss Schnee was not a girl you wanted to cross. Short in stature and almost as white as snow in both her skin and hair, she held a fierce gaze that permeated her family lineage. You didn't want to get caught in her sights when she was in a bad mood. Thankfully, she wasn't right now.

"Are we there yet?"

Okay, she was slowly descending into one as she gripped her special rapier. "Can you please turn her off?"

The only other person in the room was a lab coat wearing scientist. His messy, spikey hair and goggles on his head really didn't do well to give him a professional appearance, "Be nice you two."

"I will be nice if she had an off switch," Weiss snapped.

"I was not designed with an off switch," the orange haired girl spoke beside her.

"I was not talking to you."

"My data suggests that you were talking about me in a negative way and I am supposed to respond to it."

"Penny," the scientist spoke. "Let her be and please, don't start the 'are we there yet' protocol yet. Wait till I'm not in the room to do it."

"I understand father," Penny bowed her head.

"Now Weiss," the scientist spoke to her. "Remember what we talked about?"

Weiss held up a finger, "Don't be a jerk," She held up another finger. "And don't mention to anyone that Penny is a robot. I got it. I got it. I still don't see why we had to bring her along or even make her a little girl in the first place. It's creepy."

"It's for science."

"That's your answer to everything!"

"And that's why I'm Atlas's leading scientist," the scientists smiled smugly. "Beacon isn't going to be like the schools you went to before. We don't house nearly as many Grimm in Atlas as Vale carries. It's the perfect place to test Penny. We can't afford to lose her or we may be set back years."

Weiss nodded, "Yeah, yeah. I'll watch out for her. Just make sure she doesn't get in my way. I want to become a Huntress, not a wet nurse to a barely year old robot."

"I look forward to making the friends with you, Weiss Schnee." Penny smiled. "We are going to have a fun time killing Grimm together or painting our nails or talking about boys and how big their-"

"WHAT DID YOU PROGRAM HER WITH?!"

"Teenager stuff," the scientist shrugged. "Personality was sorta the last thing on my to do list."

Weiss pinched bridge of her nose, "Kill me now."

"As you command," Penny pulled out a sword.

"I DIDN'T MEAN IT LITERALLY!"

"Could be a good test of her abilities," the scientist scratched his chin.

"Don't encourage her!"

* * *

 **Hello everyone. Great to be writing on this again. As before, I did change a few things.**

 **Blake's outfit was changed to better hide her faunus traits and so that no one would recognize her since she's basically a terrorist. Also, she isn't completely out of it here as you see. Thought it would add more to the White Fang to have more to them.**

 **Also, Penny is going to have a larger presence here. Weiss knows about her since she's the daughter of the biggest company in Atlas and one of the most powerful people of his country. Added in that the Atlas officials want to test Penny out, makes sense for an environment that allows for better testing and to have another student to look out for her.**

 **Also, Taiyang needed to have a bit more of an introduction earlier in the show so I thought I'd pull that off. Also, more Port and Ruby bonding.**

 **Hope you all enjoy it and please leave a comment. They are very much appreciated and help me out with this story. Have a great holiday season.**


	3. Chapter 3

Ruby couldn't help but thrust herself against the glass window of the airship. There, right over there, was Beacon. One of the four biggest and best schools in the world and she was going to train there. She felt like she was going to explode with excitement. It was everything she had ever dreamed of.

Beacon was a giant castle like structure. It was grandly built and massive in size. Around it was a large, imposing wall with several turrets and guards there ready to blast away any intruders. Several series of trenches a distances from the castle walls, each with emplaced turrets and hundreds of soldiers in them. Beacon itself was known to house a small army for its defense. It needed it given how important the school was to Vale. There were several bunkers about with heavy cannons and machine guns emplaced inside. The surrounding landscapes were bare of anything that could be used as cover. A few armed and ready warships patrolled the air. Beacon would not take any chances when it involved its students and the Grimm.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Port spoke from beside her. He crossed his arms and looked on at the fortifications with pride. "I helped design the current defenses myself. You can never be too careful when it comes to Grimm."

Ruby eagerly nodded, "It's amazing."

Port chuckled and ruffled her hair, "Ah you remind me of myself when I was your age. Strapping, vibrant, ready to take on the world at a moment's notice. Oh those were the days and if I have it my way, you'll have the same rousing adventures I did."

"Really?" Ruby's eyes widened.

Port nodded, "Yes, and you'll have the scars to prove it." Port proudly pulled back his sleeve to show a long scar on it. "Got this from a mature Deathstalker. Cheeky bug was lucky that I'd gone through my aura taking out all of his comrades." He rolled up his sleeve as Ruby stared up at him in awe. "Carved my favorite mug out of his bones. Best mug you could ask for."

"That's so cool!" Ruby squealed. "Can I see it?"

Port smirked, "Of course. If you do well enough in your trials, I dare to say that you'll have one of your own soon enough."

Ruby squealed and jumped up and down, "Oooh, don't you worry. I'll make you proud, Mr. Port."

"I have no doubt about that," Port's smile was certainly infectious. "You have the spirit of a true hero." Port turned his head to look over Ruby's approaching sister, "Ah, if it isn't Yang. Your father and sister here have told me a lot about you."

"Hopefully the good stuff," Yang smirked and crossed her arms.

Port chuckled, "More than good, my dear girl. I look forward to seeing you pummel the enemy into the ground. You have spirit, like your sister if everything I've heard is true."

Yang chuckled, "Funny, you thought I'd be a hair stylist when I was a kid. Look at me now."

Port shrugged, "With hair like that, you must take as much time as your training to keep it so. Honestly, never found the need to care about my hair. Training always comes first."

"What about your mustache?" Yang pointed to his large, curvy bit of hair across his upper lip.

Port coughed into his fist and fiddled with his mustache, "Well, you see…" The sound of the airship docking could be heard alongside the slight jostle. "Looks like we've arrived. Best keep up girls." He started off, causing the two girls behind him to giggle behind his back.

As they disembarked, Port turned to them. "This is where we part ways. I've got a lot on my plate this semester," he shook their hands, one in each at once. "It was a pleasure. I'll be seeing you again soon enough." He started off.

Ruby eagerly waved him off, "Bye, Mr. Port." Ruby took another moment to look around herself. She couldn't help but jump and down in excitement, "We're here, Yang. We're finally here! I can't believe it!"

"I know," Yang smirked and ruffled her hair.

"Why is everyone ruffling my hair?" Ruby whined and tried to defend her hair from Yang's hand. Yang just smirked and drew her in closer to mess with it, causing Ruby to flail about. "Yang, stop being mean!"

Yang laughed, "Fine, fine. You big softie." She let go, "I'll see you later, Ruby. Stay out of trouble."

"Wait… I thought you were going to stay with me?"

"You need to grow up on your own, Ruby." Yang explained. "I can't look after you all the time."

"... Is this about your 'of age' parties and that dad-"

"I CAN SEE MY FRIENDS FROM HERE! BYE RUBY!" Yang quickly shouted and ran off, causing Ruby to sigh in resignation.

"Guess I'm by myself today," Ruby adjusted her backpack and weapon and headed off into the academy grounds. She was almost knocked to the ground when a blond boy ran past her and started to throw up into a trash can, "Watch it, mister." He didn't respond, too busy puking.

Ruby eagerly skipped along. The large load didn't really weigh her down since her aura was doing a fine job in keeping her strength up. It was nowhere close enough to Yang's, but it was strong enough for her own needs. That scythe would normally be too heavy for her otherwise. Her smile dipped and her skipping stopped when she realized that she was a bit lost. She turned her head around the very large campus to see so many people around her, "I knew I should have brought a map."

* * *

Weiss looked out the window at Beacon. She couldn't help but feel a little relief. She had always wanted to come to Beacon. It was an exceptional school for Huntsman and far away from Atlas. She didn't mind her sister being in the military. Her sister always wanted to join but the last thing she wanted to do with her life was be a military grunt. No, she'd like to have a little bit of freedom. Of course, Huntsman still were obligated to listen and do as their governments asked but the other kingdoms gave them a bit of freedom.

' _Freedom. Such a beautiful word.'_ A part of her thought, just for a moment, that she was dreaming. Her father wanted her to keep up the legacy. He wanted her to be by his side and get married so she could have that male heir he always wanted. _'Father knows best.'_ She squeezed her arms, remembering the bruises. _'He may be rough, but he cares… He has too... '_ She narrowed her eyes, knowing that was a lie. A lie a little girl told herself to explain her daddy's attitude at times. Still, he was her father. She wanted to believe he at least cared for her. _'He agreed to this and once I become a Huntsman, he'll see. He'll change. I'll make him change.'_

That's when Weiss had a box shoved in her face, "What? What the-" She desperately tried to move it out from her face, but it wouldn't budge. "What is the meaning of this?"

"It is a box of milk chocolates," Penny spoke matter of factly. "You were showing elevated levels of stress and I have ascertained that chocolate soothes people. It is also a good aphrodisiac and helps humans before mating, which is also soothing. Would you-"

"DR. FRANKENSTEIN!" Weiss screamed, hoping the mad scientist would save her. She moved her head back and forth, but Penny kept the box in front of her face. "Penny, move this box."

"You must eat," Penny stated. "It will help."

"I can't eat the box!"

"Yes, you can. Humans can digest a lot of things and this box was designed specifically to allow you to enjoy consuming it."

"... WHY?!"

"Because I'm sometimes so hungry, I eat the box also." Dr. Victor Von Frankenstein, Penny's creator and father stopped before them. "So I made them edible. Penny, cease and desist feeding protocol."

"Yes, father." Penny pulled the box of chocolates out of Weiss's face.

"Thank you," Weiss spoke, trying hard not to stab Penny. She was important to Atlas, so she couldn't do that. _'Stay calm, Weiss. You just have to deal with her for four years and then she'll be out of your hair.'_ The heiress decided to keep her gaze out towards the immeasurable expanse. She quirked an eyebrow as she saw a number of different sort of people coming into Beacon.

'Normal' mismatched civilians of the city of Vale. There were also a number of medieval looking knights, musket militias, and numerous tribesman about. It made her want to shake her head. Vale was just a loose collection of small kingdoms led by the largest one, the city of Vale. It astounded her that they were so different. It was illogical.

"Yes, a divided nation such as this is hard to take seriously." Dr. Frankenstein sneered as he looked down. "One can hardly believe they pose a threat to us."

"But they are our allies," Weiss commented.

"Quite," Dr. Frankenstein nodded. "For now."

Weiss didn't think much of his comment. Many Atlasians weren't too fond of the Kingdoms of Vale. She didn't particularly fall into that group, but she was a proud Atlasian. She knew that her country was superior in many ways, but… there were things that made her want to get away.

It didn't take them long to find a place to disembark. Dr. Frankenstein idly quirked an eyebrow when he saw Penny pushing all of their gear while Wiess did nothing, "Why is Penny doing all the work?"

Weiss held up a finger, "One, she's a robot." Said remark, caused Frankenstein's left eye to twitch in silent rage. "Two, since my father did not allow me to bring along servants, I thought it only fitting to put her to use. What, do you expect me to do all the work? I am the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of, if not the largest, company on the planet. I should not have to do such menial labor."

Dr. Frankenstein worked his jaw, "If that's how you feel, fine. I shall go and meet up with the staff of this primitive school. Until then, Penny." She turned her head to him, "Have fun and don't kill anyone."

Penny saluted, "I will endeavor to leave everyone I meet here alive, father." Said father nodded and went off.

The duo made their way through the throngs of people going about the place, trying their best to avoid them. Weiss's cargo was not to be disturbed and she really didn't want to talk to many of the Valians. _'I can make acquaintances later. Right now I have to focus on getting everything in order.'_ As they were making their way through a courtyard leading to the entrance, the cart with their equipment hit a fissure in the cement. As the contents of the cart jumbled about, a suitcase fell over.

"NO!" Weiss threw herself forward and caught it right before it hit the ground. She glared up at Penny, "Be more careful. Do you know what you almost did?" She opened the suitcase and let out a relieved breath. She picked up one of the vials of Dust, "This is pure and refined Dust crystals. Do you know how valuable they are?"

"Approximately-"

"No, I didn't want to hear an answer. It was a rhetorical question."

"I honestly find the concept of rhetorical questions baffling. Why ask a question if you did not want to receive an answer."

"It's… It's just how it is."

Penny questioningly tilted her head, "Human organics are strange."

Weiss ignored that comment and held onto the Dust crystal, "Just be glad that you didn't break it." To which at that very moment, someone smacked into her.

* * *

Ruby was even more nervous then she was before. There were so many different people. So many new faces and that made her want to find a hole and stuff herself inside. A small part of herself regretted coming here if she knew it was going to be this crowded. Worst of all, none of them had seen her sister. She had thought of going it alone, but without her sister, she was honestly a little scared.

She tapped one of musket militia men with the blazing red clothes, "Umm, excuse me. Have you by anyway seen a tall woman with really long, curly blonde hair and with big…" she cupped her chest and scrunched up her brow. "Big personality." She gave up on trying to explain that part.

The militia man, about Yang's age as was most people there, looked at her. He had light brown hair and a monocle. "I say, I don't believe I've seen such a person today. Although I may have. It has been dreadfully busy as of late. I'm sure you will find her soon enough, little girl."

Ruby glared at him, "I am not little."

The militia man stared at her for a few seconds before turning and poking her in the forehead. Ruby yelped and clenched her forehead from the touch, "Little girl, your aura needs some work. Come back in a couple of years and perhaps we'll talk."

As he walked away, Ruby shook her fist. "I'll show you! I'll be the best Huntress this school has ever seen!" Ruby stormed off, looking back at her bag. "You hear me, Zwei? I promise that I will be the very best, like no one ever was. I promise that - Ooph." Ruby smacked into someone. She fell back on her butt before yelping when she heard a small explosion nearby. Her hood had fallen over her eyes so she couldn't see anything. "AHHH! We're under attack!" She flailed her arms.

That was when her hood was pushed back by a white rapier and she looked up into the face of a very angry and slightly scarred white girl.

" _Du Idiot. Ich kann nicht glauben, dass ich den ganzen Weg hierher gekommen bin, um mich in der Gegenwart eines perfekten Beispiels eines absolut dummen Vale-Mädchens zu finden, das nicht einmal sehen kann, wohin sie geht."_

Ruby's jaw dropped. She had no idea what she was saying, but she was very angry. _'It sounds Atlasian. Oh, why didn't I pay attention to those classes. Come on think. Think, Ruby.'_ That's when she remembered a few words, " _Ich… bin… panda."_

The white girl just stared at her, making Ruby ponder if she spoke correctly.

* * *

"I am panda?" Weiss stared at the young girl in confusion. Weiss pinched her nose, "It's official. I am surrounded by idiots."

"It is possible she is unable to speak and understand our language," Penny spoke, but stopped when Weiss held up a hand.

"I don't care," Weiss snorted. "One day, everyone will speak Atlasian. It'll make everything easier."

"Or maybe you should learn to appreciate differences," a new voice spoke. They turned to see a hooded girl of her own age. Her piercing eyes glared at her. "Or is that too difficult for a Schnee?"

Weiss glowered, "Why you… Do not disrespect my family's name."

"That would imply that the name deserved any sort of respect in the first place, slave driver." The new voice growled, clenching their fists.

"That is a stupid lie and you know it!"

"Then why don't you oversee your own workers, Miss Schnee?" The girl snarled. "Why don't you work beside them. Oh wait, you'd never dirty your little perfect hands."

"I know when to get dirty," Weiss moved her hand to her rapier.

"Maybe we should talk in Vale," Penny got in between the two. "I'm sure everyone speak it and it would be more efficient if everyone understood each other."

The new girl nodded, "That it would be."

* * *

Ruby was utterly confused and lost about the situation she found herself in. No one was speaking a language she could understand and that made it feel rather awkward. "Umm, are you done?"

The girl she had met on the airship turned to her and bowed, "I am sorry. It was rude to butt into a situation without letting you in on it."

"And I suppose I may have been slightly, a bit, a tad, rude," the white girl huffed. "Just be careful where you walk and we'll be fine." She stormed off.

Ruby sighed in relief before she found her hand being grabbed by the orange haired girl, "Whaaa?"

"It is always glorious to meet new people," the girl spoke as she continued to shake Ruby's arm so hard that Ruby was actually lifted off the ground up and down. "My name is Penny and you are?"

"Ruby!" Ruby shouted. "My name is Ruby and you can stop shaking!" The girl let her go, letting Ruby resett herself on shaky legs. "You've got a lot of strength, kind of like my sister."

"Yes, just like your normal human sister." Penny smiled brightly. "For I am a normal biological human."

"Uhhhh," Ruby eyed her waringly. "Yeah, like that… So are you going to Beacon too?"

Penny nodded, "I am, although I am not of the traditional age to do so. My father was able to get me in early."

"Hey," Ruby smiled. "I'm in early too."

"Sensational," Penny moved her arm in a 'yeah' arc in front of her chest. "Perhaps we can be early together."

Ruby's smile grew, _'Yay, I made a new friend.'_ She thought to herself. "So do you know where we're supposed to go."

Penny nodded, "I know enough about Beacon, like its strengths, weakness, and where I can firmly place bombs at to bring it down to a fiery demise."

Ruby blinked a few times, "Okay…"

"Do not fret, friend Ruby." Penny smiled. "My father's secret desire for your destruction is not to be acted upon. That would be bad for a lot of people."

"That it would," Ruby gulped. _'Okay, she is officially creepy but she's the only 'friend' I have here.'_ "So shall we-" She was interrupted when someone bumped into her and knocked her to the ground. "Hey!" She jumped to her feet to see the same blond that was throwing up earlier.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry." The boy pushed himself up to his feet. Ruby had to admit, he looked pretty cute with his blonde hair, soft eyes and good build. "I was trying to find my way to the main hall and… well…"

"You got lost?" Ruby asked to which the boy nodded. "Well you're in good luck. Penny here knows exactly where we're going."

Penny nodded, "Yes, friend Ruby is right. We can find the main hall of Beacon, friend."

"Friend?" the boy asked.

"She's a pretty friendly person," Ruby chuckled. "Just don't mention anything about Beacon and bombs."

The boy blinked in confusion, "Well, I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, the ladies love it." He held himself up as though he was an impressive figure. Before Ruby could say anything, he moved forward, took up her hand, and kissed the back of it.

"Well it is short and sweet," Ruby nodded. She looked over his shoulder. "So what's your weapon?"

Jaune smirked, "Oh nothing, just a little something like-" He quickly pulled out a long sword. "This."

"Ooooh~" Ruby smiled and let a hand trail up and down the long sword. "It's the perfect height, width, and hardness. It's been so long since I've seen a long sword as well crafted at this one." She let her fingers trail over the tip, "And just the right amount of sharpness. You could pierce anything you wanted with this beauty."

Jaune simply lightly blushed at her motions and comments. He let out a cough in his other hand and pulled his sword from her hands, "Yes, well… I have a shield too." He put away his sword and clicked his small shield which opened up to be much larger.

"Neat," Ruby tapped it, which caused it to jerk and open and close randomly. Jaune desperately tried to keep hold of it. "Kind of a bit too springy for my tastes. You should get that looked at."

The shield bounced off his head before he finally caught it. He rubbed his sore head before saying, "Yeah, I'll do that. Thanks for the advice." He then held out his hand and shook it with Ruby and then moved to Penny. Ruby had to admit, it was actually funny to watch the little girl shake someone about. This was especially so for someone as big as Jaune. "Well… that was something." He shakily said.

Ruby took a step backwards, "You're not going to throw up again, are you?"

Jaune huffed, "Motion sickness is a common illness."

"I'll remember that if we ever share the same care," Ruby commented, causing Jaune to throw his arms up in frustration. "Well, since you showed me yours…" Ruby pulled out her dear Crescent Rose and sprung it open.

Jaune jumped back, "A scythe? A freaking scythe?"

"It's also a gun," Ruby lovingly stroke it with a smirk.

Jaune sighed and eyed his own sword, "Of course it is."

"Also, sorry for touching your stuff without permission." Ruby slightly blushed. "I'm a bit of a weapons' nut. I just like to get a feel of them. Can't be helped."

Jaune chuckled, "Well no harm done." He looked to Penny, "So what's your weapon?"

"I am a weapon," Penny simply replied with a smile.

The other two just stared at her, before Ruby chuckled. "So like hand to hand combat?"

"You will have to wait and see," Penny replied with cheer. "You'll love it." She turned around and moved her arm to point forward, "Onwards to the main hall, new friends. Let us start our great adventure post haste!" She got behind the cart and started pushing it with her.

The duo followed her eagerly, as they'd honestly be lost without her.

"So how long did it take you to make that sword?" Ruby asked, a bit bored by the silence.

"Make it?" Jaune gulped, his eyes widening. "Why would you ask that?"

"Well I made my precious Crescent Rose," Ruby hugged her weapon as though it was her dear child. "And so did everyone else here. So how long did it take you?"

Jaune scratched the back of his head, "Well it's more of a family heirloom. I got it from my Great Grandfather. I honestly suck at making… well anything. Last time I tried to make a pot, I ended up destroying a barn."

"Really?" Ruby couldn't help but chuckle at the thought.

Jaune eagerly nodded, "Really. So probably best I stick with a weapon that's tried and true."

Ruby nodded, "Yeah, that sounds like a plan." Ruby tapped her chin, before her face lit up. "Hey, why don't I teach you how to make a weapon?"

Jaune waved his arms back and forth to stop that thought, "Oh no, no, no, no. That's a bad idea."

"What are you talking about?" Ruby grinned. "It's a great idea. Friends help each other get better at things, so I'll help you with making an actual weapon."

"My sword and shield are all I need," Jaune nervously stuttered, before Ruby put a finger over his lips.

"Yeah, but what if you need a real back up." Ruby pointed out. "Besides, every Huntsman needs to have a weapon of their own. You need a weapon that just screams 'Jaune Arc'."

"I think they scream plenty well enough on their own."

"Yeah, but they're too cool and battleworn to scream your name. You need something clean, fresh, and just as awkward as you are."

Jaune gave her a deadpan stare, "Yeah… thank you for noticing."

"Friends must notice things of each other in order to be better friends and aid in each other's weaknesses," Penny spoke up. "That is what my data indicates."

"Right," Ruby nodded. "So Jaune, prepare to be trained by the one and only Ruby Rose!"

Jaune groaned as his shoulders slumped, "Why me?"

"Because you are Jaune Arc," Penny said.

"That's not a…" Jaune facepalmed. He at that moment felt that 'because he was Jaune Arc' would be a reason for his misfortunes later on down the line. He could only hope he was wrong.

* * *

End Notes:

Translation of quote: {You idiot. I can not believe that I came all the way here to find myself in the presence of a perfect example of an absolutely stupid Vale girl who can not even see where she's going.}

\- The language of Atlas is based off German. This is based off the fact that our titular Atlas character, Weiss Schnee, has a germanic based name. As well, it helps distinguish the kingdoms. I would imagine, being cut off from each other for a while, that it would cause language drifts over generations.

\- Yes, Penny's creator is Dr. Frankenstein. Didn't really feel like changing the name and the show has been on the nose with names as well.

-Lastly, yes. Vale is a hodge-podge of small kingdoms that fit more of a Republic type area. This is based off the fact that Vale seems more UK or US oriented and the fact that its vast territory isn't really governed by the city of Vale. As well, it allows me to create and use people of different types when needed.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and please leave a comment. They are very much appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

"We're here!" Penny shouted as they finally reached the main hall of Beacon.

"Yeah," Jaune groaned. "It only took us three hours but hey, you finally- ow." Jaune rubbed his shoulder where Ruby had hit him with Crescent Rose. "Sorry, sorry. Just a bit tired is all."

"I liked you better when you were throwing up," Ruby glared at him.

"Ouch, that actually hurt." Jaune put a hand over his heart, which made Ruby giggle. He smiled, "So was the blond girl I saw you with earlier your sister? I think you mentioned her once or twice on the way here."

Ruby nodded, "Yep, half-sister actually."

"I never would have noticed," Jaune smirked before his eyes widened. "Though I don't mean anything by it. Sisters can look different, not that you don't have anything in common. I-"

"Jaune, stop." Ruby rolled her eyes. "It's fine. Yeah, we don't look that much alike but we're still sisters. Do you have sisters?"

"Seven," Jaune held up the number of fingers and sighed. "I love them dearly but they can be…" Jaune scratched the back of his head, obviously trying to put words to them. "A bit much."

Ruby winced, "Is it really that bad?"

"Let's just say, I think I'm safer here." Jaune chuckled. "I mean, what's the likelihood that I'll get surrounded by crazy women here?"

"HEY RUBY!" A blonde haired woman shouted eagerly as she waved over at them. Right next to her was a brown haired woman wearing a hooded green archer outfit, complete with a specialized looking bow and arrow.

"YANG!" Ruby squealed and ran over to her, leaving Jaune by himself. He sighed and made to leave before Ruby unfurled her scythe and hooked him on it. "GET OVER HERE!" Ruby cried out as she raced towards Yang with the poor unfortunate Jaune in toe.

"So I see you've caught yourself a boyfriend already," Yang gave her a wink and thumbs up. "Nice~"

Ruby gaped and blushed, "H-He's not my boyfriend. He's my friend and I just met him so… so…" She looked to the girl next to her. Then she pointed and screamed, "SHE'S YOUR GIRLFRIEND!"

Yang just laughed before patting Ruby's shoulder, "Nice try, but I don't swing that way." She looked towards the girl. "This is Mary Robin. I met her a few weeks ago in town when she was buying some Dust for herself. Apparently she's a tribal."

"A… a tribal?" Jaune gulped and awkwardly looked to Mary Robin.

The archer tribal smirked and gave him a wink, "Don't worry, I don't bite. Though," she put a finger to her cheek as she looked him over. "You look pretty tasty~"

Yang laughed as Jaune sputtered, completely red. She put an arm around Mary's shoulder, "Mary, let's not go full throttle with the new guy. So I know you want his arrow but I think we can start off this year with a real 'Yang' if we focus on the upcoming forest drop."

"Don't you mean 'Bang'," Jaune pointed out.

"She knows what she said," both Ruby and Mary deadpanned.

"YOU _DUMMKOPF_!" A familiar voice shouted, causing Ruby to yelp and jump into her sister's arms.

"Sister, hide me." Ruby cried. "HIDE ME! The White Witch is coming."

"The White who?" Yang asked as the young Miss Weiss Schnee came marching over. The room seemed to grow a tad bit colder as she approached. "Wow, you weren't kidding."

"White Witch?" Weiss's right eye twitched as she seethed. "How dare you call me such a thing?"

"B-But Penny told me that you were called that!" Ruby pointed to the smiling and waving girl.

"Indeed I did," Penny smiled even though Weiss was giving her a glare. "My research dictates that witches were incredibly powerful practitioners of magic. Aura and Semblances are similar to this magic and you are indeed powerful, friend Weiss. So thus I called you a witch. You are also white."

Weiss chewed her lip. Then she put a hand over her chest and smirked, "Well I am indeed powerful. Thank you for noticing." She glared at Ruby, "Just never call me that again. Also, you stole my companion."

"Didn't you leave her?" Ruby asked and then whimpered into her sister's chest when Weiss's glare deepened. "Sorry, I'll shut up now."

"See that you do."

"Hey," Yang spoke up, glaring at Weiss. "You can't talk to my sister like that."

"She may not have stolen my ditzy companion," Weiss huffed and put her hands on her hips. "But she did damage some of my equipment. Thus," she pointed at Ruby. "In accordance with Atlas law, you are now a sworn enemy of mine!"

"WHAT?!" Ruby shouted, eyes widening. "B-But, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I apologized and I didn't mean to. It was an accident."

"Unless you can pay for a pure Dust crystal," Weiss crossed her arms. "Then I shall intend to one up you until I see that the debt is paid."

"I'll pay," Ruby jumped down and put her hands together. "I'll pay. I just don't want an enemy!"

"I don't mind one," Yang snarled, her body glowing slightly as she glowered at the Schnee.

"Now, Now," Mary Robin got in between all of them. "Let's not get too hasty girls. We're all here to help people and kill Grimm. Let's worry about beating each other to a pulp till the practice matches later on, okay?"

"Just make sure that she doesn't get in my way," Weiss harrumphed and gestured to Penny. "Bring my equipment along and stay with me this time."

Penny bowed her head, "Yes, Friend Weiss."

Ruby let out a long breath and jumped out of her sister's arm, "First day here and I already have an archenemy."

"And a cute guy~" Mary smirked, leaning on the side of a nervous Jaune. "Oh what I wouldn't due to have that kind of first day."

"Uhhhh," Jaune gulped and then tried to compose himself. "W-Well you should be… grateful. I am the great Jaune Arc."

"Never heard of you," Yang deadpanned. This caused Jaune to sigh and sag slightly.

"But I'd love to hear more~" Mary dragged a finger up his arm, which caused him to yelp and jump away. Mary stared at him for a moment before laughing. "Oh you are too much fun~ I can't wait to see what the next four years hold."

"Mary," Yang huffed and dragged her away from Jaune. "Stop trying to molest him."

Mary pouted, "Alright, but only because you asked."

It was at that moment, a few of the teachers of the school came up to the podium. It was just three: Dr. Frankenstein, Glynda Goodwitch, and Professor Ozpin.

Glynda Goodwitch was a rather curvaceous blonde woman. Her school attire and glasses spoke of an intellectual. Her riding crop spoke of a strict teacher. Her cape spoke of… adventure?... Style?... We'll go with style. "Hello new initiates to Beacon Academy. I am Professor Glynda Goodwitch, one of Beacon's Combat Instructors. I hope you all had a pleasant journey here. Behind me are none other than Professor Ozpin and our newest professor and mediator with Atlas Academy, Professor Victor von Frankenstein."

"That's Dr. Prof. Victor Von Frankenstein," the man corrected her and strode over, taking his spot after Glynda moved aside. "Greetings students, I will be your new Tech Professor. By the end of your semesters, you will know more about technology then you do about yourselves. You will know its wonders. Its glories. Its superiority to that of your own flesh and blood," he balled up his hand as he shook it slightly. "You will come to know of Atlas's knowledge and I will be more than happy to try and elevate you above the average Valian."

Many of the students glared up at him. There wasn't denying it that Vale and Atlas hated each other and not a one liked being talked down to by an Atlasian.

Clapping could be heard, "Father, that speech was sensational!" Penny shouted.

It was at that moment that Frankenstein's sneer turned to a kind fatherly smile as he waved back. "Thank you, Penny." Then he turned to the rest of the crowd, "If one of you so much as touches my daughter without her or my permission, I don't care who you are or your connections." He thrust out his hand, "I will show you the might and terror of Atlas personally. That much I swear!"

There was an awkward silence as many a student took a step back from the angered Atlasian. Glynda Goodwitch stepped up and cleared her throat loud enough for everyone to hear, "Thank you for that, Dr. Frankenstein."

"Dr. Prof. Frankenstein," the Atlasian snorted and stepped away. "Remember that, Valians."

"We will," Glynda narrowed her eyes before smiling at the students. "Never mind that, our dear Professor Ozpin wanted to speak to you all personally. Give him a hand." She started clapping and a number of students followed. Ozpin was rather famous in Vale after all.

"Thank you all for coming," Ozpin said. He paused and pushed up his glasses. "You do your country, no, humanity a great service by coming here. You should all be very proud of yourselves." He narrowed his eyes, "Or ashamed."

A few people started to murmur about what he meant.

"Before me I see potential," Ozpin kept on. "Before me I see the future of Vale. In your hands lie all of the people of Vale. We will come to depend on you and your actions to secure their safety. A number of you have come here to gain knowledge about the enemy. Others wish to better themselves through training… Still some of you wish to have the glory of the title of Huntsman. I will tell you this now before you get it into your heads of such nonsense."

"There is no glory to be found here. There is only blood, sweat, and progress. A number of you will die by tomorrow night. A number still will die by the end of your four years. Even more by the end of the decade. Now you all may be thinking 'why is he telling me all of this?' It is because of your potential. You all have the potential to defy death. To defy the Grimm. That potential lies within every one of us. What I hope you learn in Beacon is to tap into that potential. Knowledge, training, and wishful thinking can only get you so far on their own. You will need to combine them. To think not of yourself, but for humanity's future. You are that future and I hope you all remember that. If you don't, there won't be a tomorrow for anyone." With that said, Ozpin stepped away.

Yang blinked as she processed the speech, "Well… that was intense."

Ruby gulped, "Yeah." _'Oh man, what have I gotten myself into?'_

Glynda quickly cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, "Thank you, Ozpin for that… speech. Professor Ozpin has had a rather tiresome week preparing for this year. He is right in that your tests will be dangerous. Rest assured that we will take every precaution to ensure your safety and that the professors of this school will be watching and stepping in when we see fit. Have a good year, students."

* * *

Ruby idly scribbled a new letter to her father. She pursed her lips as she wrote it, before balling it up and throwing it into the trash with three others. She and several other students were resting up for the big day tomorrow. They really needed it from what they heard not long ago. Ruby sighed as she planted her face into her pillow.

"There's my child prodigy sister," Yang smirked as she kneeled down beside her. "How're you holding up?"

"Not good," Ruby's voice was muffled by the pillow. She pulled herself up and sat on her mat. "I've been trying to write a letter to dad about what's happening and… I don't know how to put it exactly…"

"You don't know what to say?" Yang looked on as Ruby nodded. "Well of course you don't. It's the first day so stop fretting about it so much. You can tell him everything tomorrow when you've got a good idea about the school."

Ruby frowned and looked to the ground, "What if… What if I don't make it tomorrow?"

Yang put a firm hand on her shoulder, "You will. If I have to tear apart all of Vale to keep you safe, I will."

Ruby snorted, "You can't tear apart an entire continent, Yang."

Yang smiled and flexed her muscular arms, "Just watch me, lil sis. I'll show this continent whose boss." The two of them shared a few giggles, "Still, how about you try and get your mind off of this. Maybe go and talk to someone and make a friend."

"I made two friends, Yang." Ruby huffed.

To which Yang booped her nose, "Well you're going to end up in a team of four so you need another friend."

"And what if they don't end up in my team?"

"Then you can make four to six friends in two days," Yang's smile only grew. "It's a win-win in my book."

Ruby huffed and stood up, "Fine, I'll make a friend." She pouted and crossed her arms, which caused a few other people to 'd'awww'. Ruby blushed, "Stop d'awwwing, I'm not cute."

"Someone's in denial~" Yang sing-songed, ruffling Ruby's hair.

Ruby pushed her hand away and looked around. That's when she spied the familiar hooded girl, "Hey, isn't that the girl we met on the skyship?"

Yang started to pull her towards her, "Yep and she's gonna be your new friend."

"Yang," Ruby desperately tried to pull away but was no match for her much stronger sister. "That's not… Ughh." When Yang set her mind to something, she did it. There was no point in trying to stop her once she started.

The hooded girl looked up at her, peeking through her glasses from her book. "Can I help you?"

"Hello," Yang waved. "I am Yang and this is Ruby."

"Hi," Ruby shyly waved.

"I've met you before," the girl looked back down to her book.

"So what's your name," Yang said, trying to start a conversation.

"Blake," the girl simply replied.

Yang scratched her head, "Nice night, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's very lovely." Blake narrowed her eyes. "Almost as lovely as this book… That I'm reading… Right now… You're not going to go away are you?"

"Not until my little sister has made a new friend," Yang smiled brightly, putting an arm around an embarrassed looking Ruby.

Blake sighed, "Look, I know you want her to make friends. I have a lot of people that want me to have friends here too, but really, I don't care about all that. I don't and I just want to read my book in peace. Can you give me that? A little bit of peace?"

"What's the book about?" Ruby asked.

Blake blinked in confusion, "Why do you ask?"

"Because I love books," Ruby smiled shyly. "My big sister here used to read to me all the time. Stories of heroes and monsters... They're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress."

Blake smirked at that, "What, so you can live happily ever after?"

"Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves."

"Well that's nice and all," Blake rolled her eyes. "But life isn't so much like a fairy tale as it is a drama/tragedy. You'll find out soon enough."

"Well if the world is really like that," Ruby put a hand over her heart as if she was swearing an oath. "Then I promise to change the world."

Blake blinked as she stared at her. She then had a little smile crawl up her face, "I know someone who has dreams like that. Very big dreams."

"You do?" Ruby eagerly sat down to listen, causing Yang to chuckle at her little sister's eagerness.

"It's an insane dream," Blake smirked. "Thank goodness he's an insane man. No matter how many times life kicked him around, took from him, tried to destroy everything he worked hard to create, he never let it get to him. He kept pushing himself and pushing himself and every day, despite how illogical it was, he seemed to make the world a bit better, if not funnier." She chuckled.

"Oooh, oooh," Ruby squee'd. "I want to be like that. I want to meet this guy."

"Well-" Blake started before someone cut her off.

"Okay, who took my spot?" Weiss, of all people, stormed over with Penny in toe.

"Your spot?" Yang quirked an eyebrow.

Weiss straightened herself and held herself in a relaxed, dignified way. "You see, in Atlas every single person must beforehand plot out, choose, and fortify their own sleeping location. I made sure to do so hours ago and yet I find that two people have taken mine and Penny's spots."

"Wow," Yang nodded. "That's rude. So where are they?"

"The spots are over there," Weiss pointed to where Yang and Ruby were sleeping.

"Oh we took them."

Weiss stared at Yang for a moment, "But why? I put my flags on them and everything."

"Oh those flags were yours?" Yang scratched the back of her head nervously. "I kinda… just threw them away."

"You…" Weiss gritted her teeth. "You don't just throw things away that aren't… that spot was… What kind of place is this?!"

"It is Vale, friend Weiss." Penny stated.

"I know that!" Weiss threw up her hands and then gestured to Yang and Ruby. "But are these really the type of people Vale are?"

Yang smiled brightly, "Yep."

Weiss pinched her nose, "I am going to die here. I am going to die here surrounded by idiots."

"I do not believe friend Ruby to be an idiot," Penny spoke up. "She is nice and idiots are not nice."

"That's not sound logic," Weiss scowled.

"That is what my organic human brain that is really organic tell me, friend Weiss." Penny smiled. "You are not being nice to them, so you are being an idiot."

Yang snickered as Weiss fumed, "She's got you there. Why don't you _chill out,_ Schnee? You wouldn't want to _melt_ now do you?"

Weiss just stared at her… Then she pulled out her rapier.

Yang chose that moment to run.

Blake sighed and looked back at her book, then she decided to just wait for tomorrow and blew out the candle.

* * *

 **Hello all, Evo here and thank you for tuning in to another chapter of RWBY Remastered. Don't forget to comment as they are much appreciated and help me get better.**

 **Nothing really of note here on why I changed it. Other then I found there was no real reason for Ruby to abandon Jaune like that, especially since they were getting along so well. So I kept him. Also will be introducing more characters like Mary Robin that will appear more frequently from now on. Lastly, wanted to throw a bit more of the antagonistic nature between Atlas and Vale.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed it and have a good day.**


	5. Chapter 5

"I would kindly like to ask what was up with you yesterday?" Glynda Goodwitch scowled as she stared at the tea sipping Ozpin. "You scared plenty of those kids out of their wits."

"This is a school of Huntsman and Huntresses," Ozpin clarified. "If they weren't scared before coming here, they were fools." He took another sip.

"Yes, well, that still does not excuse that kind of speech." Glynda sighed. "You know as much as I do that we take every precaution to make sure as many students make it through to see the end of their four years. You're never this critical of the students, Ozpin. Is this because of that Ruby Rose?"

Ozpin stiffened, "Whatever gave you that idea, Goodwitch?"

"I've been talking with Port," Glynda crossed her arms. "He says you've taken an interest into Summer Rose's youngest daughter." Her gaze softened, "Ozpin, if this is about-"

Ozpin almost slammed his tea cup onto the table, "I can assure you, Goodwitch. That doesn't affect my judgement whatsoever. She is like any other student and I expect her to act just like any other student."

"But she's fifteen."

"You were fifteen when I took you under my wing to be a Huntress," Ozpin pointed out. "She is just a couple of years younger than the rest, but she has potential. Potential that must be cultivated as soon as possible."

Glynda gave him a small glare, "You could at least wait. Give her a chance to have two more normal years before she's thrown into the blender. If you're trying to correct a mistake-"

"That is enough and you are dismissed," Ozpin turned around in his seat. "I expect to see you greeting the new students before the initiation test. Good day, Miss Goodwitch."

Glynda huffed and turned to leave. Before she got closed the door behind her, she said, "I'll be keeping a close eye on Ruby Rose, if that's alright with you." Then she closed the door.

Ozpin didn't stir for a moment before sighing. He turned his tea cup upside down, noting both its emptiness and the cracks lining the bottom. "Thank you." He spoke quietly to himself.

* * *

' _This is it,'_ Ruby nervously stared at her locked. She and the other potential first years were about to undertake their first training mission. Even though Glynda had tried to reassure them, Ruby couldn't help but feel deathly nervous about the whole thing. She put her hand on the lock and took a deep breath before opening it.

"Looks like someone's having cold feet," Yang smirked as she leaned over onto a locker beside Ruby. "Should have brought your favorite slippers. Might have helped with that."

"Yang," Ruby huffed. "I'm not in a funny mood."

Yang lightly punched her shoulder, which still caused her to rub it slightly in pain. "Oh come off it, Ruby. Nothing's going to happen to you. End of story. Besides, you're an awesome huntress. I saw you take on those Beowolves back home."

"There were only five and dad helped," Ruby huffed.

Yang frowned, "Okay, you really are letting what Ozpin said get to you. The Ruby I know wouldn't back down from a challenge, especially one like this. You've always dreamed of coming here. Don't let some old geezer get you down at the last minute."

Ruby sighed, "Fine I won't."

Yang pulled her into a headlock and started to give her a noogie, "Aww, that's my little Rubes."

Ruby pulled herself out of the headlock and patted her hair back down, "I am not little, Yang. I'll have you know I'm big for my age."

"Oh I'm sorry," Yang smiled and put her hands up in defeat. "I didn't mean anything by that, sis. Maybe one day you'll actually get to reach the cookie jar all on your own."

Ruby narrowed her eyes, "I can get those cookies on my own already."

Yang pulled out her scroll, "Would you care to repeat that? I'm sure dad would like to know what's been happening to his favorite cookies."

Ruby blushed in embarrassment as she glared at Yang, "You… you are the worst."

Yang just laughed, "I can't help it. You just make it so easy. So don't be like that. The last thing I want you to do is 'Yang' your head in emberrasment on the first day."

"...It's hang my head, Yang."

"Whoa, let's not go that dark road, Ruby." Yang spoke. "You've got a long life ahead of you."

Ruby waved her arms around in anger, "Oooh. OOOOOH! I'm so going to get you for that. Mark my words, Yang. You're going down."

"Sorry, I only go down on the third date." Yang gave her a teasing smirk.

"But… That's not… GAH!" Ruby threw her hands up into the air and walked off. "You're not my sister anymore!"

"You can't walk away from the truth," Yang called after her. "Blood is thicker than water."

"Why don't you go prove it!"

"Oooh, sassy~" Mary Robin appeared from Yang's side, glancing at her little sister. "She's so adorable."

"Yeah she is," Yang smiled as she looked at her receding sister, before frowning. She looked down to see Mary was leaning back, using her boobs as a pillow. "...How many times have I told you to stop that?"

"These boobs deserve regular attention."

"Why don't you go bother Jaune?"

Mary gave a fake gasp and pulled away. She pouted and sniffed, "You don't want me around anymore?"

Yang sighed, but put a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing. A snort escaped her lips so it didn't really work. "Oh you know it, but again-"

"You're not on the menu, got it." Mary gave a bright smile and a thumbs up. "... How about a threesome with some guy?"

Yang held up a finger before rubbing her chin. She wasn't actually considering, for the most part, but it was fun to joke about it with Mary. "I don't know."

"It's not lessy if it's in a threeway~"

"You've got a point there," Yang laughed.

"I always do~" Mary giggled, knowing and carrying the gag along. "Now, let's go find Jaune."

"Hold on!" Yang's eyes widened. "I am not doing it with Ruby's first friend." Mary opened her mouth, "You are also not inviting Ruby. In fact, she is a no go zone." Yang swiped her arms in an arc, "No go."

Mary snorted and gave a slight glare, "Really Yang? You think I'd try and corrupt someone so innocent and pure and don't bloody well give me that look. I have standards…. Yes, I have standards…. Why don't you believe me?... You are the worst friend ever!"

Mary's pout was stopped when Yang chuckled and gave her a hug, "Don't be such a sourpuss~ So why don't you calm your tits and we can get this party started."

Mary smiled, "Yes let's."

* * *

Blake found herself becoming increasingly uncomfortable as time went on. Every moment she spent in this academy, she knew her cover would be blown. She'd be captured and sent to jail, or worse, Atlas jail. She shivered. No faunus wanted to be in their custody. It didn't help that THE Dr. Frankenstein was here. Now if he got a hold of her…

She wanted to run. She wanted to hide. She shivered slightly, but she knew she couldn't do any of that. She was on a mission and her commander depended on her. Commander Sev had her respect, no, all of the Faunus Liberation Army respect. He deserved every bit of it for what he had done for them, even if his methods were insane. She would not fail him. Speaking of which, she had an upcoming call from him.

She went to the restroom, making sure no one was there, and went into a stall before opening her scroll and put it to her ear, "Yes, Commander?"

"Ah if it isn't our own secret cat," Commander Sev jovially spoke. "How fair you in your ever present goal of gaining victory for the FLA?"

"It's… going well."

There was silence for a moment, "Blake, you hesitated there. Is there something I should know? Like who to smash into a giant tree shaped pie?"

"Why is the pie tree shaped?"

"It is because trees make for the best smashers," Sev explained as though it was obvious. "They are so big, tall, thick and so very wise. Only such wise creatures could be so large and live so long."

"They are… trees."

"Yes, but they are wise, smashing trees."

"But why a pie?"

"Because pies are made for smashing, into faces."

"Aren't they for eating, commander?"

"...That's cakes, Blake."

Blake pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to calm herself. She tried not to think about his logic, because she knew she'd just get a migraine. She took a deep breath, "Dr. Victor von Frankenstein is teaching at Beacon now." Blake had remembered what it felt like to see the mad doctor. It was… extremely unsettling. She had wanted to run far away.

The other side of the call was silent for a moment. She could make out nothing until she heard the sound of a mad hissing. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought it was a snake preparing to strike. It basically was anyways, "Blake, my little secret kitten, if he so much as glares at you, tell me. I will put my blade into his skull."

"I'm fine, commander." Blake quickly said. "I can take care of it myself. The rest of the personal will be making sure he doesn't go too far."

"I hope so," Sev tiredly sighed.

"You don't need to worry about me," Blake softly spoke. "I've done infiltration tasks before."

"I am your godfather," Commander Sev resoundly spoke. "It is my job to worry about you ever since you first waggled those little ears. I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to you and you darn well know that your father would kill me if he found out. Guess he'd try and kill me if he found out I made you do this in the first place."

"I volunteered," Blake scoffed.

"Still, just… be careful okay?"

Blake smiled, "I will, Uncle."

"Uncle? Are you trying to sweet talk me into easing off?" Sev paused, "Well it's working. Okay, I'll stop worrying and let you do your thing. The pie tree option is still open though."

"I understand," Blake said. "I'll talk to you later. Blake out." With that said, she walked out of the stall and into the hallway. She silently mused about what to do with the mad doctor. She idly wondered if she could just sneak up and kill him. Wouldn't be the first time she'd done that. Her internal musings were cut short when she bumped into what felt like a metal wall and fell on her tush.

"Sorry about that," a smooth sounding masculine voice spoke. Blake looked up from the ground to see a rather handsome man with flowing black hair look down at her with an outstretched hand. That wasn't what caught her eye though (It was but she would rather kill someone then admit it.). What caught her eye was the black draconic armor that adorned him and the huge broad sword in his other hand which he seemed to just casually wield over his shoulder.

Blake took his hand as he helped her up, "No problem. I wasn't watching where I was going. It was my fault."

The man smiled which both made her want to run and want to trust him. It didn't help that the gleam in his eyes also made her hair stick on end, "I would counter you and say that it was actually my fault, but these sort of exchanges usually never go anywhere. I take it you're another first timer such as myself?"

Blake nodded, "Joined up to help people. Same as the rest of us."

"Very true," the man spoke before he elegantly bowed, sweeping his free arm before him to accentuate it. "I am Mordred Pendragon, at your service my lady."

"Blake," was all she said in return. Again, she wished she had chosen another name.

"Well Blake," Mordred straightened himself up before picking up her scroll. "I should let you on your way then." He held out the scroll to her.

"Yes and thank you," Blake eagerly took the scroll back.

"I hope you survive the upcoming test," Mordred spoke, giving her a charming smile. "A face as beautiful as yours is something the world deserves to see more of."

Blake snorted and looked away with a slight blush on her face, "Thank you for the compliment. I think I'll be going now."

Mordred nodded, "True, see you later, Blake." He walked off a few feet before stopping. He looked his shoulder at her, "I would be more careful about those ears of yours. I can see them moving, White Fang."

Blake stared at him in shock as he walked off. A small part of her told her to kill him now before he told anyone, but there were too many variables. It wouldn't work out and she knew that. She didn't even know his aura limits. So she moved on, hoping nothing became of this.

* * *

Jaune fidgeted nervously as he stared out at the enormous expanse of woods before him. He could make out calls of wild animals and he knew, he just knew, some of those were Grimm. Grimm just waiting to make a snack out of him. He knew that if he was anymore nervous, he'd be rattling in his armor. That's when he felt someone tap his arm. He looked over to see Ruby who was giving him a warm smile, "Oh, hey Ruby."

"Hey Jaune," Ruby said. "Nervous?" Jaune nodded, to which she sighed. "Me too. Guess I'm not as eager as I should be."

Jaune's eyes widened, "But weren't you all gun-ho about doing this earlier?"

Ruby nodded, "Yeah, but then there was the speech, then I started to think about it and everything." She groaned, "I can't take it. I just want today to end and this whole thing to be over with." She hugged her weapon like a teddy bear, "Maybe firing lil' Crescent Rose will help."

"Oh please," Weiss came to stand a few feet from them. She had her arms crossed as she glared at them, "That pathetic looking hunk of junk couldn't please anyone."

Ruby glared back at her, "You take that back, you big meanie!"

Weiss just stared at her for a moment, before she brought the back of one hand to her mouth and gave her best noblewoman laugh. "Oh this is rich. Big Meanie? I can't believe we take you Valians seriously."

"Well I'll show you what we can do," Ruby Rose stomped her foot. She was determined to prove Weiss wrong.

"Hello friends," Penny skipped up between them. "I look forward to mercilessly killing Grimm by your sides."

"Oh hey Penny," Ruby and Jaune both said and waved, to which Penny waved back.

Weiss slapped the hand down, "Do not wave at them, Penny. They are the enemy."

"I believe the enemy is the Grimm, friend Weiss."

"They are the secondary enemy."

Penny gave her best 'serious' face and nodded, "Roger, I will put this information into my memories."

"What?" Ruby squealed and whimpered, "But I'm not your enemy, Penny. I'm your friend."

"Friend Ruby is right. Deleting information."

"No, they are the enemy."

"Friend Weiss is in charge of my well being. Adding information."

"No you're my friend."

"Deleting information."

"She's the enemy."

"Adding information."

Yang walked over and cocked her head to the side, "Okay, what are they doing?"

Jaune just shrugged, "Deciding if they are enemies or friends, I guess."

The two kept arguing until a shot could be heard. They looked over and Ruby recognized the red coated, white hat guy anywhere as the guy she had talked to a bit yesterday. "It's you."

"Hello, You." Penny smiled and waved.

The guy sighed, "It's Quarter Alan, if you would be inclined to know. I had half a mind to bash your skulls together to get you two to stop."

"I was about to do that," Blake held up her hand.

"Gee, I feel so loved." Weiss sarcastingly spoke before being hugged by Penny.

"This is wondrous," Penny squee'd. "I had hoped we would be able to gain the affection of the natives and now we have. We are growing up like normal flesh and blood human beings. Yay."

Weiss sighed. Before any of the students could speak anymore, Glynda walked over to the group. Beside her was was a brown haired effeminate looking person wearing a battle skirt and dress of sorts with a sword on the hip. The other was Professor Port.

"Hi Mr. Port," Ruby eagerly waved, to which Port eagerly returned the gesture.

"Hello students," Glynda spoke, clearing her throat to grab their attention. "I am Professor Glynda Goodwitch and this is Professor Astolfo. We will be observing your progress as you make your way through the woods to the nearby ruins. Once there, you will grab a corresponding piece to that of your partner."

"Uhhh," Jaune spoke up. "And how do we know who our partner is?"

"Your partner for the next four years will be the first one you meet in the forest," Glynda explained. "Since we will be watching, you cannot simply just walk away and expect nothing to happen. You will have to partner up, not just for classes but your own survival. The woods are populated with newborn Grimm. Deadly to regular people, but you are not regular people. Even at your level, they shouldn't be too much of a challenge as long as you don't foolishly rush in and get ganged up on."

Astolfo chose that moment to speak up, holding up a bracelet. The person's voice was very feminine, "What you see here is an aura bracelet. You put on this beauty and it will tell you how much aura you have left. If you use up all of your aura, you will pass out and possibly die. So don't do that."

"Thank you Miss Astolfo," Jaune smiled.

"Oh I'm a guy."

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Then one guy raised his hand.

Glynda sighed, "Yes….?"

"Cardin Winchester," the large armored boy spoke up. "So Professor Astolfo is a guy?"

Glynda nodded, "Yes he is. He just happens to…"

"I like to wear dresses," Astolfo smiled brightly to which Glynda sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Sooo… does that mean miss Schnee over here is a guy too?" Cardin spoke, to which the air suddenly started to grow cold. He didn't seem to notice as he smirked and went on, "Flat chest, wears a large skirt, yadda yadda. I'm just curious is-"

The teasing fellow was suddenly launched into the air and into the forest by what appeared to be a giant, frozen fist that came up from a large glyph on the ground. All the while screaming like a little girl.

"Oh silly me," Weiss spoke with such 'niceness' that everyone took a step back. "I seem to have accidently my semblance. My bad."

"Uhhhh," Ruby held up a finger.

"Say one more thing and I will launch you even harder," Weiss gave Ruby a large grin, causing the girl to meep and hide behind Jaune. Said boy then hid behind Ruby. They then both hid behind Yang. Weiss turned back to Glynda, "As you would?"

Glynda nodded and Astolfo started to hand out the bracelets, "Since we have a few extra, if one of you are to find Cardin in the forest, give him your extra just in case. Happy hunting."

"Soo," Jaune started to talk. "How are-" He was suddenly launched into the air, screaming like a little girl.

"Huh," Yang looked up at him. "Not as girly as Cardin's."

"Awww, my poor Jaune." Mary pouted. "Don't worry. I'll protect him~"

"That's what worries me," Yang sighed but gave her friend a small smile and lightly punched her shoulder before they took off.

Ruby stood her ground and waited… until she was suddenly flung into the air herself. She smiled, "Okay Ruby, you can do this!"

And thus the first day of the initiation had begun.

* * *

 **Cactus Flower restaurant, Vacuo**

It was a late evening at the Cactus Flower, a homely old restaurant nestled in what constituted the rural lands of south Vacuo, the 'backwards' arid continent if there ever was one considered such by the others. Aged wood construction with several rows of half walls separating most of the tables and a forward bar with an open wall leading into the kitchen and serving rack. The decorum was mostly what one would expect from something out in the country in a small town, cattle horn and deer antler mounts intermixed with hanging quilts and archaic paintings scattered across the walls with a replica Ursa Major taxidermy standing next to the bar, snarling with its paws spread to seize prey. The most advanced thing the Cactus Flower could pride itself on was a single large television hooked up to an antenna up top. Sometimes on good days they could even stream in a sports competition or movie, though with the dust storm looming overhead outside it was mostly static. Aside from that the only thing resembling advanced technology was a set of powerful ceiling fans used to beat back the Vacuo heat.

Happy hour had ended four hours ago, leaving the only occupants of the building being one sole remaining customer and a late working server. Needless to say, the looks upon the young man with silvery hair and woman with bright green hues whom entered the restaurant were unimpressed when they spotted the twenty something year old guest chuckling as he poured himself another drink and shooed the server away.

Emerald Sustrai shrugged as she and her cohort stepped a bit closer to the table the man was parked at to approach behind him, "William Coyote?"

The giggling man paused and tilted his head back, an action accentuated by the wide brimmed gambler hat perched on his head. He held his hand up to cup it around his ear to he could hear better.

Emerald rolled her eyes, "William. Coyote."

"Eh?", he quipped in a slurred voice that dripped of intoxicated jovialness, "Please, call me Bill. Only my Ma an' heart's delight call me William."

Mercury Black narrowed his eyes and grumbled reflectively from bad experience, "Great, a drunk…"

Emerald waved to her partner subtly and shook her head to divert that topic before addressing "Bill" Coyote, whom still hadn't bothered to turn around and stop drinking, "I don't think that will be necessary, we won't be here long. We're associates of someone who contacted and contracted you several months ago as you recall."

Bill perked up slightly and tilted his head, kicking his riding spur adorned boots off the bench in front of him and turning his rotating chair around to face them with a raised eyebrow. Roughly Cinder's age, give or take a year or two, he wasn't anything remarkable in most any way. Dirty blonde short hair atop his head and scrawled across his face was a five o'clock shadow, mustache, and disconnected goatee that were ringed by freckles born of the Vacuo sun. Between the mild tan skin, dirt hued gloves, fittingly coyote brown long shirt, khaki pants with riding tassels, and dark brown hat, the only none earthy color on him was his amber green eyes, a purple trinket with a feline emblem hanging off his belt loop, and lime green bandana ringing his neck. And he took a huge swig of whatever he was drinking as he looked the two over.

"Heh, lemme guess, you two pups are Cindy's interns? She in town?"

The duo took a mental pause, not used to hearing their leader's name spoke so plainly in public, but wrote it off on account of how empty the restaurant was and their guest clearly being intoxicated. Bill noticed this pause and raised his eyebrow as he tilted his hat up.

"Ah'll gander to that being a 'yes'. Shame she couldn't pay her ol' 'cquaintance a visit an' sent the kids," he quipped before taking a big swig of his bottle.

At this point a more than mildly irritated Mercury interjected, "Look, as much as we enjoy coming all the way out here to the boonies to find you-"

Bill Coyote kept drinking through Mercury's talk, making it more than a little awkward.

"-you know what is the opposite of that, and that's rooting around for a certain young lady…."

He paused, Bill was still chugging whatever it was he was drinking, glancing at them through the bottle, but motion with his hand for the younger man to keep going. Emerald's lip curled slightly with annoyance and she put a palm down on Coyote's table.

"Just get this over with, we're here because you didn't report back."

Bill raised a finger as he gulped down what was left in that bottle before picking up another one and unscrewing the cap of whatever it was he'd been chugging, they couldn't see the label due to how he was holding it but they didn't need to guess. Right before he was about to take a swig he perked his brow and held it out to the mildly stupefied teenagers.

"Ye' legal?"

Mercury and Emerald lowered their brow and narrowed their eyes before speaking in unison, "Not interested."

Bill just shrugged before helping himself to a quick nip, "Shame, anywho 'ah found a little problem after 'ah took this job. Ye' see, last time 'Ah caught wind of Cindy lookin' 'round for some fine young dame after she hired me an' naturally I checked in around it, get an idea of just whom 'ah might be chasing around an' well… that there lady seemed to drop right off the map. Amber was her brand 'ah think. Ring any bells?"

Mercury showed nothing, "Should she? Lots of Ambers in the world."

Coyote nodded to concede, "Thought so. Weird accident of fate 'ah guess. Well right after the time 'ah find she takes long train cross the ways outta the ways, Cindy calls me up an' says she's needin' a bounty hunter familiar with these parts. Took it as an off job between huntsmen calls with the posse whilst they're on RnR outtatowns, family visit in Menagerie; you know the tune. Naturally, 'Ah accepted and followed through."

Emerald leaned in a bit closer despite feeling slight unease at the seemingly uncommon way he was looking at her and Mercury, "So, did you find her?"

Coyote pursed his lips and nodded, "Quite the lady too. Least just say between us she ain't no spring chicken or falling leaf if ye'r onto this yarn ah'm spinnin'."

Mercury huffed and crossed his arms, thinking in the back of his mind this entire trip was a waste because some drunk part time bounty hunter couldn't find a good reception to call them, "And you didn't message us back, why?"

"Cuse I found out somethin' bout this maid, per say. Bit of a trade secret ah'll share," he muttered with slight extra emphasis on the word 'maid'.

Bill glanced about and motioned for them to come closer. After a quick glance to one another, Emerald and Mercury obliged and came closer to stoop over the table, already knowing the topic of this so called secret. In a bit of their own secret, Emerald's hands silently slid onto her sickles under the table to fire as Mercury tapped his ankles together to ready the gun barrels within his legs. The four seasonal maidens, young women of incredible magic potential, were a well known fable across the four continents. Very few knew they were real, even fewer knew the conditions of the powers. Whoever was the last person in the maiden's thoughts, should they be a woman, could receive the powers. Often, a killer could be that last thought. It was only four months or so back Cinder had ambushed the young and inexperienced Fall Maiden with Emerald and Mercury and managed to seize part of the power before help came. Always one with a plan and knowing either the Summer or Winter Maiden was somewhere in Vacuo, Cinder had hired a certain local hunter to scout around while she looked into finishing Amber off. But the condition was Coyote was _not_ supposed to know what he was trailing and identifying a maiden. He wasn't supposed to know anything other than finding where the suspected maiden was after Cinder gave him an identity and turned him loose.

If he did, that made him a loose end they'd have the beat the answer out of before 'securing'.

But as they did lean in, ready to strike and Bill perked up closer to tell them something they already knew, Mercury found something slightly amiss. The stench of alcohol on breath was one familiar to him from his old man and he was prepared for the stink on Coyote's breath to infest the air around him. But when they got closer, he found he was prepared for nothing.

Bill Coyote's eyes gleamed in an unnatural, uncommon way as he whispered, the slur in his voice gone and revealing he wasn't drunk at all.

"Found out some ol' fables an' tall tales are true, like them Maidens."

Out of the corner of his eye, Mercury finally caught a glimpse of the label stretched across the bottle Bill just took a big swig of. It wasn't a drink bottle, it was seasoning.

 **A few minutes earlier**

Bill Coyote, finishing off his bottle of root beer, caught a glimpse of the two young persons stepping into the Cactus Flower from the reflection off the half working television screen. He needed only a peek to know their cleaner clothes and bright colors not washed out by sunlight's bleach were clear indicators they weren't from around here. And given recent events along with the fact he was the only person in the restaurant outside of Azuli, he could guess why and swore under his breath.

He motioned for the blue haired waitress to come closer as he noticed a particular flavoring bottle nearby, whispering to her.

"¿Tienes seguro en este lugar?"

("Do you have insurance on this place?")

Azuli stole a glance at the two intruders whom were giving the place a glance over before they approached.

"S-Si."

Bill gave an impressed nod before motioning towards the back, masking it with a feigned laugh as he put on the drunk act and pulled himself up another 'drink'. Azuli made herself scarce while Coyote pulled up a bottle of raw lemon juice.

 **Present**

Mercury saw the lemon symbol and smelled the citrus as a guitar lead tune came over the jutebox speakers, 'Word Up' by the BossHoss band.

Bill Coyote, mouth full of the stuff, smirked and suddenly spat it all out in Emerald's face; temporarily blinding her eyes with the stinging liquids before he sprung into action. Kneeing the table as he rose up, Bill punted the hardwood up as he kicked back to avoid Mercury's shotgun powered kick shooting him through the table. The blinded Emerald was knocked back by the airborne furniture, leaving Mercury to press the attack alone. Coyote dove behind a half wall to dodge the blasts blowing holes in the walls and shattering bottles, grabbing a hung up whip and revolver labeled 'Tornado' to gear up. He had only a moment to collect before Mercury vaulted himself over the half wall and came at him with abandon.

Bill dodged a shotgun blast-powered kick that shattered a table behind him and threw a punch that was swiftly blocked, lurching closer to contest their balance and strength. Coyote let out an impressed whistle and laugh.

"Haha! Like to do-si-do boy?"

Mercury only scowled and landed a kick to the shins that elicited a grunt of pain from Bill, with the follow up being met with the like, locking their lower legs up from their feet being caught behind the other's shins.

"Personally 'ah always favored square dancin'!"

As the two struggled in a strength contest with locked shins, Bill seemed to focus on Mercury's legs and his eyes gleamed again. Not wanting to know what that meant, Mercury fired out the shotgun in the captured leg to launch himself back with the recoil. But as he flew back, he glimpsed something being raised towards him. Bill smirked and fired his revolver, forcing Mercury to cross his arms before him and focus his aura in front of himself to block the bullets. A long shiny whip with a steel tip resembling an opened rattlesnake mouth shot way off to the side. It missed horribly so Mercury didn't pay it any heed, just dodging the gun fire. That meant he didn't notice how the metal fangs dug into the Ursa Major taxidermy now behind him after he dodged towards it being pulled back when the whip went taut, not until the massive bear grimm statue came crashing down on top of him.

Bill swiped in a speed loader after dumping the six spent shots as he shouted out to the back, "Put that one on my tab Azuli!"

"¿Qué rompiste mi oso? ¡Pelotudo!", a voice cried out from the kitchen.

("What, you broke my bear?! Dumb***!"")

"Hey ah'm the one who put him in the ground before, just doin' it agai-", Bill rant was cut off by a recovered and fairly livid and red eyed Emerald launching herself at him as Mercury shot holes in the Ursa statue to break it apart and free himself.

Bill backpedalled down the aisle of tables, weaving about to dodge the rapid fire gunshots where he could and having to block the rest with his chipping aura when he couldn't. Grabbing and throwing up a blanket stretched across a table, Emerald clicked a button on her gun barrels and mecha-shifted them to their sickles mode to cleave an x through the fabric. But the momentary lapse in visibility meant she found herself coming face first into a gloved fist. Unfettered and shrugging the blow off, she engaged with a downward swing that was caught against a gun barrel.

Bill Coyote wolf whistled, "Pretty, capable _and_ with mecha-shiftin fancy tools. Cindy ain't recruitin' any scrubs! Lookin' nice lil' lady."

"And you look ridiculous," she grumbled.

"Aaaay there, ol' fashion just means it's seasoned! "'Llow me to take you kids to school. Take ye'r weapon for instance," he snapped as he landed a kick to her gut and forced them back.

"Movin' parts, multiple functions, pretty sharp on the cut an' shoots pretty sharp, sometimes a gun an' other times a sword," he quipped while sidestepping one of Emerald's guns shooting past him before grunting and tanking the right one, still shifted into a sickle sword, with his stomach and sacrificing some of his aura reserves to keep from getting gutted.

Bill Coyote's eyes gleamed as he looked to the weapons and locked his elbow down on the right one to keep Emerald from wrenching it away, smacking her other away and swinging around to put his revolver barrel to its hardwood stock where the mechanism to shift the parts from gun mode to blade mode were.

"Mean, my guns got a few shifty bits as well, still a gun though. More parts means more to break!"

The revolver shifted, staying a revolver but the cylinder altered to break in two and then recombine from a six shooter to a three shot cylinder; breaking apart and doubling up the round. A very loud bang sounded off as the enlarged bullet flew free and burrowed into the mecha-shifting parts of its foe, ripping through the trapped weapon to effectively break it in two. Emerald drew up ad grimace at her busted weapon, knowing from twisted metal and shattered wood it was damaged beyond repair and would have to be replaced. Bill Coyote just smirked and shrugged before his face quickly changed expression of shock and he found himself ducking under a backward swing from her remaining weapon.

Emerald's bloodshot eyes, on account a lemon juice to the face, flashed as she reached forward and she seemed to disappear in midair. Bill Coyote kept his guard up and quickly try to look about the see were she'd gone, only hear the sound of Mercury's shotguns fire off to the side and he quickly found himself sent flying back in the opposite direction with a chunk off his aura. Bill caught himself on one of the support pillars and looked about to see where Mercury or Emerald were but couldn't see a thing. In fact the restaurant looked barren and lacking a lot of the fine details he knew were there. He heard something off to his right and sprung towards his left, just in time to dodge what he could clearly hear was a shotgun blast going over his head.

Bill dove over the central bar and snapped his whip out to snag the end cloth and yanked back hard, sending both cloth and the myriad of dishes and seasonings airborne. His eyes gleamed at they flew and seemed to vanish midair, obscured by an illusion.

"Mirages?! HA! Ain't that a cute parlor trick," Bill roared with laughter as he grabbed several surviving salt shakers and hurled them into the air.

His gleaming eyes, indicators of his own 'parlor trick', homed in on the salt and he drew up his revolver. With it cycled back to six shot mode and having spent one doubled up round on Emerald's weapon, it left him four rounds for four salt shakers. Four hits.

Salt sprayed across the restaurant in a torrent, forcing Emerald to shut her eyes and focus on not getting more potentially blinding agents in them. It shut off the illusion, revealing her right in front of him with Mercury having just freed himself from the tablecloth and glass. It was fortunate that their auras protected them against all the flying shards of glass; without it they would have been sliced to ribbons.

Bill shrugged, able to judge where they'd been hiding now, "Looks like ye' kids need some instruction. That there aura's good for savin' y'er hide, but it ain't impermeable to what ain't deadly. How else ye' think ye' can breathe otherwise? It block out the air!"

Emerald coughed and wiped the powder off herself, gritting her teeth as she blocked a frying pan that had been lobbed at her. She leapt at Coyote whom kicked his leg out to the side to spring off a pillar and dodge away; causing her to just impale the bar counter.

"Do you _ever_ shut up?!", she snarled as she flicked her wrist and extended her sickle out onto its chain.

Bill's eyes gleamed, scanning her and the terrain around them. His response was a roll of the shoulders, "Depends. Ye' keep listenin' and 'ah keep lookin'."

She swung out for a decapitating blow.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you," he deadpanned while reloading with a quickly discarded speedloader, but it was too late.

Emerald, caught up in a fury, forgot how cord weapons don't tend to work in enclosed spaces. When she swung out to the side she snagged one of the support beams that held up the overhang atop the bar, Bill having already weakened the structure by kicking off it earlier. The wood groaned and snapped, causing Emerald's eyes to widen as she tried to yank her weapon free but to no avail as it was firmly bitten into the wood. She was forced to drop it and backflip away, landing atop a table cloth and skidding off the counter with it. Bill howled with laughter for a good two seconds before swearing and ducking away from a shotgun kick that would've hit him in the face.

"Looking for me?!", Mercury Black growled as he launched kick after kick at the bounty hunter.

"Actually," Bill grunted as he blocked a downwards axe kick that would have caved in his face, "Been lookin' an' feelin'. Ye' like kickin' huh?"

Mercury scowled and spun around, giving chase as Bill backpedalled into one of the tighter aisles with a constant barrage. He only could notice subconsciously it meant he had to rely on jump, front, and back kicks as the side or roundhouse kicks he so frequently used would mean he'd get hung up on the tables and walls.

"You're perceptive," Black grunted with rolled eyes as he leapt over a thrown chair and aimed a divekick.

His leg was caught by the shin and he found himself seeing Bill's shining eyes locked on the limb, "That Ah' am, gizmo legs."

Mercury was spun around and hit the ground face first with one leg held around Coyote's underarm and the other pinned by his boot. Bill spun his revolver around and emptied three of the six shots into the prosthetic, blasting through the piping and lodging bullets in the now bent servos. Thankfully a vengeful Emerald, hair frayed and wielding a carving knife, launched herself at his attacker to come to his rescue.

Emerald slashed and stabbed at her enemy, it becoming clear the both of them were starting to get tired. The only difference was that where one of them was relying on anger and frustration to fuel her adrenaline and keep going, the other was staying perceptive. Emerald kicked Bill back and rushed him with her makeshift dagger as Bill reached up and ripped a pair of cow horns mounted on the wall off the mounting, using the hardwood between it to block the knife. Bill charged forward, using his superior strength and mass to now force Emerald back. Emerald grit her teeth and looked to him while motioning with her hand, activating her semblance and from Coyote's point of view, transporting him to an entirely darkened void.

The only problems were Bill had wised up to her tricks by now, she couldn't keep the illusion from flickering in and out from lemon juice and salt in her eyes distracting her, he could feel her weight on the other side of the horn rack so he knew where she was, and knew the layout of this restaurant like the back of his hand. He kept rushing forward until he hit the back wall with the horns stabbing into the oak and pinning Emerald between them against the wall. With his eyes gleaming, offering him a slight glimpse through the faltered illusion, Bill grabbed the young woman by her head and smashed his forehead into her face. Her aura flared and crackled, broken.

With Emerald delirious, dizzied, and teetering on the edge of being out cold Bill stepped back, slightly huffing for breath as he pulled a knife lodged in his shoulder out. He closed his eyes and collected himself for just a moment as his revolver reconfigured to the double up mode. He snapped to the side, drew and fired his remaining shots just as Mercury did with his remaining good leg, weaving around the shotgun blast and burying two bullets down the prosthetic's barrel. Guns typically don't work too well with rounds fired up them rather than out of them, and it showed. Mercury yelped in pain and flew past him to hit and slide across the floor, his remaining prosthetic burst and spitting out parts between frayed piping. Gray hues sparked across his form to indicate a busted aura.

Bill Coyote shook his head as he reloaded, snapping the bullets in one by one on account of now being out of speedloaders.

Mercury groaned and looked up at the sound of a spun cylinder to find a gun barrel in his face.

"Point of advice kid, any idget's only strong as their weakest spot."

The sound of a engine roaring outside caused him to pause before anything else could happen. Coyote snorted and rose back up and started to make his way to the exit. Shaking footsteps caused him to stop and at this point the part-time huntsman, part-time bounty hunter was just getting annoyed.

"Ye' see, 'ah was about to leave ye' to lick ye'r wounds given 'ah know what's comin', but frankly 'Ah can replace this," he muttered as he held up his whip while hooking the length of it into the rattlesnake head to create a lasso, "An' 'Ah might be bit cross with ye' given ye' messed up my favorite stop."

He whipped around, catching a last-breath using Mercury around both his legs with the lasso and yanked it to pull him off his busted legs.

Mercury groaned as hit the ground before trying to undo the cord from his broken legs but it was snagged on the bent and split piping, "H-How, how did you know?!"

Bill Coyote tapped at his cheek to point to his eye, "Any idget's only strong as their weakest spot. And ye' gave me plenty of time to look ye'rs over. Nighty night."

With that Coyote lobbed the other end of the lasso into the whirling fan above and it got caught up in the swirling blades. Mercury Black yelped as he was yanked off the ground and hung upside down like he was half hogtied, swung around before the whip jammed the fan and stopped it just in time for the young assassin to collide face first into a painting and get knocked out. William "Bill" Coyote kept back a swear as the noise outside grew closer, clearly revealing itself to be a bullhead airship, pushing back frustration and terror he felt by humming his favorite tune. Collected after a moment, he glanced over to see a bob of blue hair and worried eyes peeking at him from the kitchen.

"Ey, Azuli! ¡Prepara a Widowmaker para ir pronto!"  
("Get Widowmaker ready to go soon!")

He barked to the server still hiding in the kitchen as he dusted himself off. Passing by the unconscious Mercury, he used his gloved finger to tilt the painting back into its proper alignment as he stepped outside.

The bullhead was hovering forty feet up outside, casting its spotlight on Bill. He didn't bother to check the number on the scroll call coming, it was different every time and the person calling them was standing on the bullhead anyways.

"Coyote," the feminine tone calmly noted.

Bill chuckled, "Howdy Cindy; ye'r hooligans owe me a new whip."

Aboard the bullhead stood a young woman in her mid twenties, pale skinned and clad in a brilliant red short dress that seemed to crackle like embers from a fire. While her more definite features were obscured by the shadows, memory and his semblance told Bill of her shoulder length black hair and fiery eyes. Cinder Fall, Emerald and Mercury's boss, standing between the bullhead doors looked down upon him with her typical expression of neutrality that could mask anything from rage to disappointment. To be honest it was a small goal of Bill to try and get her to emote once or see how devoted she was to that self-control shtick. Their eyes locked, fiery stare to gleaming smirk.

"You never called back about your progress, kept me waiting long enough that I decided to make an appearance."

"Much obliged for the visit Cindy, ye' know how Vacuo is? So many deadzones 'round here."

Cinder Fall tilted her head after a momentary pause, "You know, if you had just said you had succeeded in your objective you could have saved yourself the trouble of that knife to the shoulder and damage to this establishment."

Bill shrugged, "Kids were cocky, probably fresh off a victory right? The girl thought she was being real sneaky drawin' her guns under the table and her dance partner walked right into a narrow space were he couldn't kick too good. Skilled pups but ye' might wanna drill them some more. Too used to fightin' in the open and sticking to their weapons. Broke those by the way."

Cinnder nodded her head slightly to the side as she leaned on the doorway, "Hmp, I'll keep note of that, I expected part of this to the honest."

Coyote chuckled, "Really? If ye' wanted me to beat the tar outta ye'r pups to teach 'em how not to end up pinned down an' hog tied ye' could'a asked."

Fall was unfazed but nodded slightly, "As you said, Vacuo has a lot of deadzones, a call might be difficult to get through. However now that you're my audience, I'd like to make a bonus proposition."

"Proposition? Heh, never took you for one to sweeten a deal, Cindy."

"In addition to the agreed-upon payment for your last objective, I'm planning a bit of an excursion back to Vale eventually. Nothing upfront, least not for awhile; so I could have a use for a certain skill set behind the scenes. Training, guarding, hunting, I believe you can guess who I'm referring to?"

There was a pause over the scroll, one Bill intended but he made good not to show it, "Is he lookin' up at a high stacked dame in a dress he can see up, whose eyes might be glowing just a smidge more after that comment?"

The glowing eyes from the bullhead narrowed before looking up to the sky and Bill snickered as he was given a slightly sharp reply, "That would be correct. I can have a payment wired now in addition to your previous fee along with future stipends-"

"No sale," Bill grunted without letting her finish, an extremely dangerous move to do to someone like Ms. Fall.

Cinder Fall paused, if only momentarily, to look down at the bounty hunter whom now had a gun pointed at the bullhead. She didn't flinch.

"Coyote, am I to doubt your ability to track down your target so much you'd attempt robbery to recoup losses?"

"Nah," Bill grunted with a low growl in his tone, "Because 'ah told you ah'd find her in a month. 'Ah got to her in half that. An' when 'Ah realized just who Ah'd found well, let's just say it bestowed upon me the ability to put two an' two together about what this mission of yer's was spinnin' 'round. One tends to figure things out when they find themselves in presence of maiden straight outta 'Ah fairy tale."

There was no response on the other end of the phone-like device and Bill could feel a pair of eyes leering down at him like they could pierce right through him. Like staring back at a tiger you never could know was going to pounce.

"Ye'r out to kill 'em, ain't ye' Cindy? Become a maiden eh?"

Cinder Fall perked her brow slightly, something Coyote took no small enjoyment from as he new such a subtle gesture meant he got what he wanted out of her. Glimmers of fiery strata illuminated on her dress and coalesced into an aura that surrounded her that had it's epicenter at her blazing eye, a type of power display Bill was keen to recognize.

"Huh, looks like that theory on Amber being one was right after all, seems like ye' did her in. That look works for you Cindy, or should I call you Cindy the Fall Maiden?" he grunted with a nod as the spurs on Coyote's boots stabbed into the ground like anchors, "Even if it looks 'tad off on ye', other girl had more to the light show."

"Procedures may need to be finalized. However, if you know what I am now," Cinder Fall quietly whispered into the scroll as the glow encircling her started to intensify, "You should know that gun will do you no favors."

"Right ye'd be, couldn't take ye' fresh let alone after romp with the kids. Ye're real strong one Cindy," Bill quipped as his cylinder started to shift and extended forward to combine the cartridges, "Seen more impressive though, so what says ye' if 'Ah might take a literal shot in the dark an' then make my ways outta town to alert folks on how to do the rest?"

Cinder Fall smirked, "Let's say people believe the words of some random huntsmen and bounty hunter from the backlands of Vacuo, and they believe an old fairy tale is entirely true, down to how these powers are transferred… You've seen the kind of people in this world, Coyote. How many of them would you think would die or even... kill… to gain this kind of power? How many innocents might get hurt from some pathetic greedy soul making a mistake and killing the wrong person in a quest for power?"

Now it was Bill's turn to flinch and narrow his gleaming eyes, squeezing the handle of his gun to spur a locking mechanism to extend from the grip and hold his wrist in line.

"Or, what if they managed to actually find and kill one of these very special young women? There are some that could pull it off; SDC, some notable clans, certain terrorist cells. It be such a tragedy for such power to lie in the hands of those so irresponsible. Why, such groups might even follow you around if word of these powers got out and someone leaked that you knew were one was. They could try and see if they can find what you did should you run back and try to warn them…. Heh, there's a reason those whom may already know let the legend turn into what everyone believed to be fiction."

Bill paused, tipping his hat slightly to adjust it as the wind kicked up around them from the distant dust storms.

"An' should I happen to keep things secret an' talk to those who might already be in on it?" he muttered calmly, not adjusting his aim away to keep the stoic woman dead center in his gun sights.

"That's assuming you'd know who to talk to. There are so so many higher ups that have gone corrupt these days, and you can't exactly run back to the maiden you found to ask her. It would both expose her and plays to the assumption she'd know anyone to trust to begin with," Cinder said with a burning heat dancing across her form, "Face the facts and look at your odds, Bill, you're a gambling man."

"Only casually," Bill corrected as he gambled, all the cylinders in his gun lining up to collect all six shots into one extremely long charge with a combined round that might as well been found in an elephant gun.

"Either way, you can tell who's holding all the cards here; whether you speak out or not. You know you can't kill me or stop me. So, you could throw your lot and your associate's lives away and oppose."

Cinder Fall shifted her hand that was directing the flaming magic all around her and held her palm up like she was offering him to take it, "Or, you could not worry your mind with such druthers that would lead to failure; and obey."

William 'Bill' Coyote took in a long breath to steady his nerves and collected himself. Resigned his attempts at whistleblowing stood a far greater chance at backfiring then anything else. She was right too, caught him on a game with barely anything in his hand while she was holding the best of the deck. Bill grunted, leading to a chuckle, and then a laugh. He burst out in an uproar, yapping and cawing a hearty howl akin to his color's namesake.

"AHAHAHAHAAAAAYAYAYAYAAAAA!-", his eyes snapped open with a shining gleam. He'd kept her talking long enough to look things over. His one card in hand was a wild one.

"-NAAH!"

The massive burst from Tornado firing on all cylinders at once roared like force of nature it bore the title of. Had it not locked his wrist down and anchored his heels, Bill would have been sent flying back with a wrist broken in five places. The shockwave of the enormous charge going off begat a visible, glowing streak of dust-charged ammo he'd saved for just such an occasion. Its shot zipped forward on split air, but passed Cinder Fall as a surge of flaming glass sprung from her palms, instead burying itself in the engines of the bullhead; Bill's actual target. The aircraft creaked and shrieked, swinging wide to the side and throwing off Cinder's aim at the last moment. Good fortune too, as the onslaught she ensued would have flash-fried the weakened bounty hunter on the spot. The aircraft smoked and spun out of control, swirling about midair as the pilot made emergency adjustments to sacrifice power and speed to keep them from crashing. Cinder's scroll chimed and she nearly melted it with a searing hand when she picked it up whilst holding onto the handrails.

"Word of advice Cindy, ye' could kill me six ways till dawn but ye' ain't the biggest dog 'round this neck of the continents. She's stronger than ye' Cindy, 'Ah can tell."

She caught a glimpse of a motorcycle shooting off from out behind the restaurant with a broad hat-wearing figure up front and the one behind them holding a glow of a scroll to the driver's face, no doubt Coyote and whoever else might have been at the restaurant making a hasty exit given she could hear the sounds of an engine roaring over the scroll.

"So come after me or my folks 'round here, an' Ah'll make sure to have a role reversal staged. We here in Vacuo not too kind towards threats an' she'd be no different."

Cinder Fall leered at the departing motorcycle, Widowmaker, as it passed into the dusty horizon. The reception on the call grew more static clogged.

"Hmph, I burn you, you burn me. Clever," she whispered.

There was a low chuckling through the scroll to greet Cinder Fall's ears and she let a tiny smile cross her face, "Well played. Thank you for training Emerald and Mercury, I'm sure they'll find it useful."

"Hehehe, vete a la mierda."

A few minutes later and Cinder Fall stepped off the now landed bullhead, briskly walking towards the restaurant to find Emerald still pinned to a wall by a set of bull horns and Mercury strung upside down while still faceplanted into a painting. She slowly shook her head.

"I am going to kill that man…"

* * *

 **Thank you all for coming by and reading. The second part, with the cowboy here and Cinder and her goons, was written by my good friend, Tarbtano. The writer of 'The Bridge'. I hope you check it out and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Until then, see you next time I hope you all do well and please leave a comment. They are very much appreciated.**


	6. Chapter 6

Ruby always felt like she was flying when she used her semblance. Being literally petals in the wind meant that she could take off from the ground, even though it wasn't that far up. She still couldn't make it even half way up most of these tall trees, but she was getting there. So finding herself so high up in the air without being inside an aeroplane or blimp was a new experience. The problem was however was that she had to figure out a way to safely land.

With most any Hunters in training, this wasn't a problem. A person's aura could save you from a good distance drop. Ruby's obviously could. However, there was a limit to how much aura you could use before your body gave out. If the distance was too great, you would end up using quite a bit of your aura for just surviving the fall. That would leave you with a big dent in your defenses which could get you killed in a fight with the Grimm.

While this was a training exercise and the Grimm in the forest were just newborns, Ruby was not going to go into this like a novice. She had trained way too hard for this day. So she trained her rifle upwards and fired. The blast rocketed her to the ground. Quickly, she used her gun to knock her back up, slowing her descent, with each blast countering the drag of gravity. Finally, just as she reached the tree line, her scythe was deployed. She caught it on one of the larger branches and used it to swing herself down to another branch before jumping to the ground.

Ruby smiled and patted her beloved weapon, "Well that was easy. Good job~" She hugged it close, like a mother would a child. Then she put it over her shoulder casually and started to walk through the forest.

As she walked through the forest, her senses all seemed to sting slightly. It wasn't a painful sensation but one that kept her on edge. Her father always seemed to comment on her ability to sense Grimm. It was a joke of course, but there was something about Grimm that just made her… a bit much to deal with. Thankfully, it should only be a few young Grimm. She could handle that without losing it.

That's when she heard howling nearby. Ruby's face broke out into a big grin as she raced towards the sound, while most sane people would run away. She was a Huntress. Killing Grimm was a part of the job.

And a small part of her secretly enjoyed killing them~

The first Grimm to pop up was a wolf Grimm. While there were many kinds of Grimm, with the most common being werewolf Grimm, wolf Grimm were one of the weakest especially in this form. It was pure pitch black with red glowing eyes. Since it didn't have any white armor, this was basically a newborn. While this Grimm would be deadly to normal humans given that its stronger and faster than a wolf, it wasn't anything much compared to a Hunter like herself.

The wolf Grimm let out a snarl and charged. Ruby charged right back, side stepping and cleaving the Grimm in half, from its jaws to hindquarters. As with all Grimm, the smokey body dissipated within seconds after death.

Ruby pouted, "That wasn't much." She put her beloved Crescent Rose on her shoulder and kept going. "Hope there are more on the way. EEP!" Ruby sprang backwards when a small sword flew right in front of her face and embedded itself in the tree beside her. She had her weapon at the ready, before she saw none other then Penny walk into the clearing.

Penny looked at her and smiled, "It is a pleasure to see you again, friend Ruby." She gave a wave.

"Good to see you too," she smiled and waved. In all honesty, Ruby was fine with this choice of partner. Penny seemed like someone she could get along with. _'Can you imagine if I ended up paired with Weiss? Brrr, no thank you.'_

"I am sorry for almost cleaving your skull in half," Penny said rather easily. "My aim seems to be recalibrated. I shall endeavor to fix this issue so I do not accidentally kill my friends."

Ruby nervously nodded as she glanced at the sword. She gulped, "Yeah, you do that."

A new howl alerted them to a small pack of wolf Grimm racing towards them. Ruby quickly got her rifle at the ready and fired, putting two of them down. A similar bit of bloodlust with so many Grimm in front of her returned, but her father had helped her with control that. She was good. She knew that, yet she had to remind herself.

However, once again, her fight was cut short. Just as she activated her scythe to slash at them, dozens of swords flew right through the air and cut the dozen or so wolf Grimm to pieces. Ruby blinked in surprise before she looked over at Penny.

The young teen was smiling as dozens of swords swirled around her. Said swords then shrunk down into what appeared to be balls and flew right into the small belt around Penny's waist, "Now that was satisfactory. While my social skill protocols are off, my combat protocols seem to be functioning perfectly."

Ruby pouted, "Oh come on. Did you have to kill all of them? I wanted to take some of them out myself."

Penny bowed, "I am sorry, friend Ruby. I will endeavor to not mercilessly slaughter every Grimm in your presence."

Ruby smiled and nodded. She did her best not to dwell on how casually Penny talked about slaughtering people, "Good, otherwise this whole trip will get boring real fast or end real quick." More howling came from the forest. The killing urge came back, "Oh look! I think they're that way."

"Should we not get the chess piece prize, friend Ruby?"

Ruby blinked and then chuckled nervously, "Yeah… we should…" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, collecting herself and quelling that urge before letting it out. Then she looked about herself, "Do you have a map?"

Penny nodded, "I do indeed and I shall take us there safely so you will not be torn to shreds by these Grimm." She started walking with Ruby close behind.

* * *

Blake's secondary mission was simple enough. It was easy to blend into the shadows given her assassin training in the army. This meant she could bypass the few other students without being seen. She was assigned to protect someone and she would do it, even if she hated said someone. Life just wasn't fair sometimes. That was a lesson that had been drilled into her by her instructors and life itself.

Thankfully due to her hearing, eyesight, and agility imprinted onto her form from her father's side, she was easily able to catch up with her objective. She scowled as she looked upon the visage of Weiss Schnee. The Schnees were a family most every Faunus on the planet hated. They were ruthless. Cared for no one but themselves and had caused so much death in the last decade or so through careless or meaning damage. It's as if the head of their family forgot about the large war that tore through the world between humans and Faunus.

Just talking with the girl confirmed her feelings. She was rich. Pompous. Spoiled. It felt like she herself thought she deserved to have the world bend itself to her. A part of her wanted nothing more then to put a bullet into her or at the very least, leave her to her own devices. The Grimm in the forest wouldn't pay much attention to her. She was half Faunus, the forces of Grimm didn't much give her kind any real attention unless they had to. Humans were a different story.

So when the Grimm appeared, they ran under her position in the trees without delay. They ran right towards Weiss. The heiress calmly stood her ground before launching herself forward with a white glyph on the ground. Her rapier stabbed into the skull of one wolf Grimm, killing it. Then her next several blows stabbed into the bodies of the first five wolf Grimm in front of her. Her blows were faster than a normal humans, fitting for a Huntress in training.

The rest of the Grimm kept coming. Weiss spun the revolver on her sword Myrtenaster until it stopped on a white container. She pointed her sword and a blast of dust came shooting right out of the tip. One wolf was unfortunate to be hit by the ice bullet, killing it instantly.

Weiss fired thrive more, getting three more kills. Blake had to admit. Weiss had quite the aim. With a slash of her sword, she killed another Grimm that had gotten too close.

Blake had to wonder if she was even needed right now. Perhaps she could simply tell her boss that she tried her best but someone else got to her first. Then she saw it. One of the Grimm had climbed right up into a tree. Weiss didn't see it so the Grimm could easily pounce right onto Weiss's back. There were still enough Grimm around that even a momentary pause could result in them swarming her.

Blake held up her gun. Yet the back of her mind flashed something. A little voice. One of her old comrades, Adam. He would have said to let her die. It was the best option. One less Schnee and without the Heiress, the company would lose its power. It would pass onto someone else once the father was dead. That could work.

Then she remembered her meeting with Commander Sev.

* * *

 _*Flashback*_

Blake entered the room without much fuss, quickly closing the door behind her as she did. The room was filled with maps, schematics, figurines of several different types, and etc. It was chaotic, but that fit her commander just fine.

Standing before her was her commander. He was dressed in an older dark blue officer uniform with a rather large black bicorne hat. A long black tail spilled out behind him, signalling that he was a snake faunus. Said snake faunus was giggling like a mad man as he drew on a sketchpad.

"You wanted to see me, commander?" Blake stood at attention.

Commander Sev turned around with his sketchbook in his hands. His slitted snake eyes stared at her unblinkingly. As with all snake faunus, they didn't have eyelids. Instead they had silky looking lenses that would pass over their eyes. This gave them the impression of never blinking. Freaky to some, even to other faunus, but Blake was used to it. His huge grin clued her into how he was feeling.

"Ah my amazing little kitten," Commander Sev spoke. "I knew you would be on time. Why wouldn't you be? The greatness of my plan foresaw no delay for how can someone delay looking upon greatness? It's impossible I tell you."

Blake quirked an eyebrow. She could already tell that what was to follow wouldn't make too much sense, "Is this about your idea to replace all of Atlassian's military's ketchup with hot sauce?"

"When they all take a bite, their pain will be our triumph." Sev cackled. "Then we could roll up to their capital and it would be ours for the taking."

"Not everyone likes ketchup, commander." Blake pointed out. "Some people prefer other sauces, like mustard."

"Blasphemy! Ketchup is the ultimate condiment," Sev dramatically pointed his finger at her. "Why I could achieve anything with a bottle of ketchup. Like send a particular person down a flight of stairs." He snarled before collecting himself, "Yes, well. That's not important right now. I am currently working on my moon cannon." He tapped his chin with a pencil, "Now if only I could find a place to put the love seat."

"The what?"

Sev quickly shook his head, "Forget I said that? Now this is about your mission. You already know about the whole infiltration and whatnot," he spun his hand around as if he didn't care about that part. "Your next big objective is to keep yourself close to Weiss Schnee."

"Of the Schnee Dust Company family?" Blake stiffened. Did her boss want her to take her out of the picture? Spy on her?

Sev nodded rapidly, "Oh yes, her. You see, I want you to be her partner and make sure that she remains safe during her stay in Beacon."

Blake blinked in confusion, "You want me to be her bodyguard?"

Sev jabbed his pencil in her direction, "Indubitably. She is crucial to our cause." He walked over, putting the sketch book and pencil on his desk as he did so, and patted her head. "Oh I know how poorly most faunus think of that family, but I see potential. That and well, if you fail and she gets hurt," his hand fell to her shoulder and she tensed as though the air was filled with a killing aura. It was so poisonous that she could almost feel it weakening her. "I'll have to deal with the situation. Is that clear?"

Blake hurriedly nodded, "Crystal."

The aura vanished as he smiled brightly, "Wunderbar, as some pretty women would say. Now remember to be her friend above all else."

Blake narrowed her eyes, "I think that's asking for a bit much, commander."

"Blake, you're not fooling me with that emo act." Sev deadpanned. "I mean, you're seriously emo." He flipped up through the pagebook with his tail before showing a crude drawing of her with most of her painted black. "High concentrations of it the likes I've never seen. You need some sunshine and smiles, so with that said, you are to be her friend. That is an order."

Blake groaned, "Yes, commander."

"And I have the perfect disguise," Sev's grin grew as he pulled out a black bow. "Put this over your ears, wear your uniform, and you're golden."

Blake frowned, "You want me… to go to a school full of hunters… some of which are from rather racist families or have lost people to the White Fang… wearing the very same outfit I've worn on several terrorist actions… and the only thing hiding my identity will be a black bow…"

"Yes," Commander Sev nodded. "Tis foolproof."

"Commander," Blake sighed. "That would ONLY WORK IN A BADLY WRITTEN CARTOON!" Blake threw up her hands in agitation.

"But no one would expect it," Commander Sev pointed out. "For you to appear as you are but not entirely, they will think the action foolish. Yet we are not fools. They know that we are not fools so therefore they will believe you not to be a fool. Since the fool has been eliminated, they will believe you not to be you for you are no fool."

Blake blinked a few times then she sighed, "How about I pick out my own dress wear, okay?"

Sev pouted and threw the bow behind him, "Alright, fine. Just for that, you owe me a hug." He quickly pulled her into a firm hold.

Blake sighed once more but returned it, "Thank you for the help… Uncle Sev."

"Happy to be of service," Sev grinned. Then he hummed in thought, "Maybe I should wear a bow."

Blake sighed as she knew she'd be spending the next hour arguing that he can't just go walk into the Schnee Dust Corporation with only a bow.

And most likely telling him not to wear a dress along with it.

* * *

 _*present*_

The Wolf Grimm pounced.

It died halfway through the air as Blake shot it. She jumped down to the ground beside Weiss and used her blades weapons to slice through three Grimm before killing two more with precision shots. Weiss only scowled as the two Huntresses in training slaughtered the last dozen of the beasts.

Weiss turned around to glare at Blake, "How dare you interrupt my battle? I had everything under control."

"A grimm was about to pounce on your back," Blake scowled. "A little thank you would be appreciated."

"Thanking the likes of you? I'd rather bash my head against a tree," Weiss scoffed. "So it looks like we're partners now for the next four years."

"Seems like it," Blake silently agreeing how much she hated this.

"Try to keep up," Weiss simply said as she walked off.

Blake held her weapon. It would be so easy. Then she sighed and lowered it. She had a mission and she was going to perform it. So she ended up following Weiss.

* * *

Off in another location, two other Hunters were on their way to the chess pieces. Over two dozen wolf grimm howled as they charged the pair yet they stood firm. One of them was even laughing as he punched a grimm to death with his armored gauntlets. He was wearing thick, medieval looking armor over his body as he used his large metallic gauntlets to crush the sides of the wolves with each punch.

His partner was sniping off the wolf grimm at her leisure as they were all focused on her more melee partner. She grunted as she blasted away another dog, "Again, I think retreating now would be the best option."

"Oh come off it," the guy laughed as he crushed a dog's skull. One of them leaped onto his back but he quickly grabbed it with one hand and threw it away into another group of the dogs. "We've got this."

She sighed as she kept sniping the wolves. She had to admit, they were doing a pretty good job with the wolves. Now and again, some of them would try and come at her but her rifle and his punches kept them at bay. Maybe they would make a decent enough pair, even though she doubted she'd see much of this guy after she graduated. Not her type. Still they were going to make it out of this no problem.

That instant, a great white figure burst out of the forest. The boy hunter was grabbed in the claws of what could only be described as a giant white werewolf. The girl gasped at the creature holding the armored hunter in its claws. It was an Alpha Grimm. The white covering its body wasn't just color. It was an armor born of years upon years of survival as well as its height.

The Hunter tried to slam his fists into the fingers grasped around him, but the Grimm just chuckled. Then it roared into his face as if to make him deaf. A fresh surge of fear ran down the boy's spine as he cupped his hands over his ears. The roars were cut short when a bolt hit the beast in the face. Of course the armor negated any damage so there wasn't a scratch on it, but the creature turned its head towards her.

The girl started to hyperventilate as she fired again and again at the beast. Instead, it just casually tilted its head and made its way towards her. Each blow glanced off his armor as if it was nothing. It growled softly as it looked at her.

"Don't you dare," the boy gathered energy into his fist and made to punch the beast in the nearby cheek.

The beast apparently saw this and swiftly bit into the arm. For the next few seconds, nothing happens. The boy's brain didn't register the bite with how fast and clean it was. He was simply trapped in a stunned haze. Then it hit him. The boys eyes widened in pain as it easily ripped it clean, as if he had no aura or armor. In fact, he felt his aura break the moment the Alpha Grimm chomped down. He would have been in awe of the power of the creature if he wasn't crying out in agony. The grimm huffed and threw him away as if bored and continued towards the girl.

She started walking backwards, shooting at the grimm in fear and frustration. She didn't want to die. Not here. Not now.

Then the beast lunged and she screamed, falling on her butt. She whimpered as he loomed above her, staring at her curiously. Then it spit out the boy's remains that it had eaten a few meters away. She let out a small scream before the beast looked her in the eyes.

It was indeed old. Its eyes were like elderly gateways to a world of pain and torment. Nothing lay within them except pain and fury. How such a creature could exist was beyond her. Then it reached out to her and she cringed, waiting for the death blow.

It never came. Instead the grimm picked up her rifle. It was a rather large sniper rifle and it was only thanks to her aura that she could wield it. The beast looked it over with an eager anticipation. Then it poked a claw between the trigger and its guard, pleased that it could fit just enough. Then it looked down at her and she shivered in fear.

The creature opened its maw and instead of biting into her, warbled sounds came out. They were a series of strange growls and mutterings as the Alpha Grimm moved its mouth. As she continued to stay still, the Alpha seemed to huff in anger as a claw slashed the ground causing her to whimper. Then it closed its mouth and made a series of grunting noises. She blinked in confusion. They oddly sounded like it was clearing its throat. Then it spat off to the side and snorted before turning its attention to her.

To her shock and awe, the creature didn't lean down to kill her. Instead it hummed as though it appreciated the weapon.

"Hrrreeeeeesss...Hreeeeees" it growled while calmly turning the weapon through its paws to inspect the curiosity.

She panted in breath, both from the primal fear the grimm exuded as well as the subconscious realization of what it was doing. Its eyes seized her gaze and it's cheeks curled back in a fanged grin, gripping the handle of her rifle in an eerie way uncanny for any beast. That toothy maw opened, what it did next sent an icy lance of shock through her body so much that the world seemed to freeze over.

* * *

Glynda didn't waste a single moment to get to the students. They were in danger. Extreme danger and she was going to get them out alive. Using her semblance, she had arrived on the scene in no time. Of course she would as it was something she had done on a number of occasions. This time was different however.

The wolf grimm for her were easy prey. She had dealt with young grimm enough to know their tactics and strengths and the wolf grimm were no exceptions. She dispatched them readily and made her way to the two students.

The girl had wrapped up the boy's limb and hugging him tightly. She was whimpering and crying over his armor, holding him tight as if afraid to let go.

Glynda quickly knelt down beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. The girl looked at her in surprise before grasping onto her form. She returned the hug, "There, there. You're safe now. Everything's alright. It can't get you now."

"I don't want to hear it anymore," the girl whimpered. "Make it stop."

Glynda rubbed her back, "It's okay. I'm here." She had to get them out of here now. She just hoped Port knew what he was getting himself into.

* * *

 **I am so sorry for the long wait. I just fell really out of love for the show and combine that with graduating college and my job working me longer hours, I just lost my drive to finish writing this series. Thankfully, I got some of it back so I should be able to write now and again for this. I hope this was worth the wait and that you enjoyed it. I can't wait to read your feedback. Take care all of you and see you next time.**


End file.
